tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5236303228316094966Thu, 08 Sep 2016 04:31:57 +0000WerewolvesFaeMolly HarperVampiresCynthia HollowayDemonsFeverJaye WellsKaren Marie MoningLorelei KingMageMage in BlackMike Shepherd; Kris LongknifePatricia BriggsSabina KaneScience FictionAmanda RonciniCharlaine Harris; AnthologyCharles LeggettComedyDarynda JonesDeborah HarknessElemental AssassinGin BlancoHalf Moon HollowHillary HuberIron DruidJane JamesonJeaniene FrostJennifer EstepJennifer IkedaJennifer Van DyckKelley ArmstrongKevin HearneKim HarrisonKris LongknifeLarissa IoneLarry CorreiaLauren FortgangLords of DeliveranceLuke DanielsMary Robinette KowalMecry ThompsonMercy ThompsonMike Shepherd; Mike ShepherdMonster Hunter InternationalMonstersNight HuntressOliver WymanOwen Z. PittRachel MorganRichelle MeadSeanan McGuireTavia GilbertVampireWitchesgrim reapermysteryThe Lost Art Audiobook ReviewA critique of recently-released popular audiobooks in the general genre of urban fantasy and paranormal thrillers.http://literaryurbanfantasyreview.blogspot.com/noreply@blogger.com (Dharma Kurlind)Blogger28125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5236303228316094966.post-4430420567908058084Wed, 18 Apr 2012 01:00:00 +00002012-04-17T21:00:40.776-04:00Darynda Jonesgrim reaperLorelei KingmysteryHumorous Death – Charley Davidson Series, Books 1 – 3<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:PunctuationKerning/> <w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/> <w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables/> <w:SnapToGridInCell/> <w:WrapTextWithPunct/> <w:UseAsianBreakRules/> <w:DontGrowAutofit/> </w:Compatibility> <w:BrowserLevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" LatentStyleCount="156"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} </style> <![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:PunctuationKerning/> <w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/> <w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables/> <w:SnapToGridInCell/> <w:WrapTextWithPunct/> <w:UseAsianBreakRules/> <w:DontGrowAutofit/> </w:Compatibility> <w:BrowserLevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" LatentStyleCount="156"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} </style> <![endif]--> <br /><div style="margin-top: 1.0pt; mso-pagination: widow-orphan lines-together;"><b>Books</b>:</div><div style="margin-bottom: 5.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 1.0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-pagination: widow-orphan lines-together; tab-stops: list .5in; text-indent: -.25in;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1.<span style="font: 7.0pt &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span></span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">First Grave on the Right</i> <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp;</span>(9:04), available <a href="http://www.audible.com/pd/ref=sa_1?asin=B004KAVT1A">here</a> – <b style="color: #660000;">4.5 out of 5</b></div><div style="margin-bottom: 5.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 1.0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-pagination: widow-orphan lines-together; tab-stops: list .5in; text-indent: -.25in;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2.<span style="font: 7.0pt &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span></span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Second Grave on the Left </i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp;</span>(9:30), available <a href="http://www.audible.com/pd/ref=sa_2?asin=B005GQNA28">here</a> – <b style="color: #660000;">4 out of 5</b></div><div style="margin-bottom: 5.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 1.0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-pagination: widow-orphan lines-together; tab-stops: list .5in; text-indent: -.25in;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">3.<span style="font: 7.0pt &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span></span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Third Grave up Ahead</i> (9:51), available <a href="http://www.audible.com/pd/ref=sa_3?asin=B006R8OQ40">here</a> – <b style="color: #660000;">4.5 out of 5</b></div><br />&nbsp;<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:PunctuationKerning/> <w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/> <w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables/> <w:SnapToGridInCell/> <w:WrapTextWithPunct/> <w:UseAsianBreakRules/> <w:DontGrowAutofit/> </w:Compatibility> <w:BrowserLevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" LatentStyleCount="156"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} </style> <![endif]--> <br /><div style="margin-top: 1.0pt; mso-pagination: widow-orphan lines-together;"><b>Author:</b>&nbsp; <a href="http://www.darynda.com/bio/">Darynda Jones</a>&nbsp; </div><div style="margin-top: 1.0pt; mso-pagination: widow-orphan lines-together;"><b>Narrator:</b>&nbsp; <a href="http://www.loreleiking.com/">Lorelei King</a> <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span><b>– <span style="color: #660000;">4 out of 5 </span></b></div><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Publisher:</span></b><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"> <a href="http://us.macmillan.com/Audio.aspx">Macmillan Audio</a>&nbsp;</span><br /><br /><div style="margin-top: 1.0pt; mso-pagination: widow-orphan lines-together;"></div><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;; font-size: 12pt;"></span><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:PunctuationKerning/> <w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/> <w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables/> <w:SnapToGridInCell/> <w:WrapTextWithPunct/> <w:UseAsianBreakRules/> <w:DontGrowAutofit/> </w:Compatibility> <w:BrowserLevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" LatentStyleCount="156"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} </style> <![endif]--> <br /><div style="margin-top: 1.0pt; mso-pagination: widow-orphan lines-together;"><b>Summary:</b></div><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Charley Davidson is one funny, witty, pain-in-the-butt Albuquerque PI.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>She used to be a consultant to her police detective dad, and is now a consultant to her police detective uncle.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>But there’s more the Charley than “Danger” and “Will Robinson” – her tits. She’s also a grim reaper. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp;</span>Not the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/%20http://www.deadlikeme.tv/">DeadLike Me</a> <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span></i>type either, but the kind chosen from birth, can speak every language known to man, see the dead and let them pass through her, and remember everything from birth kind. That’s a hard burden for a girl who’s just trying to make rent and avoid getting killed while doing it.&nbsp; <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span></span><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1317064331l/8788554.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1317064331l/8788554.jpg" width="209" /></a></div>&nbsp;<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">First Grave on the Right – Not your mom’s chick lit:</b><br /><br />Let’s talk about the elephant in the room – or rather on the cover.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>The cover art screams silly chick lit, but as the old adage goes, don’t judge this audiobook by the paint on the model’s toes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>This book is so much more.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>The beginning is quirky, fun, and entertaining, and because of that humor, the story builds on you without you realizing it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>The listener’s sense of Charley’s complicated relationship with her family, especially her evil step-mother, starts out light and fluffy and ends with shocking depth. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp;</span>Her interest in Reyes starts out seeming superficial before becoming a desperate need.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>Somewhere between the laughs, the serious themes of child abuse, domestic violence, etc., sneak up on you.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>An overall great listen.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div style="color: #ffe599; text-align: right;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1316132479l/9565045.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1316132479l/9565045.jpg" width="210" /></a></div><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:PunctuationKerning/> <w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/> <w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables/> <w:SnapToGridInCell/> <w:WrapTextWithPunct/> <w:UseAsianBreakRules/> <w:DontGrowAutofit/> </w:Compatibility> <w:BrowserLevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" LatentStyleCount="156"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} </style> <![endif]--> <br /><div style="color: #f4cccc; margin-top: 1pt; text-align: left;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Second Grave on the Left</b> – <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Taking the Grim out of Grim Reaper:</b></div><div style="color: #f4cccc; margin-top: 1pt; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="color: black; margin-top: 1pt; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #f4cccc;">Like </span><i style="color: #f4cccc;">First Grave on the Right</i><span style="color: #f4cccc;">, this second book in the series is a stellar read, and again, Ms. Jones dresses up a serious theme in humor to make it more palatable. Here, Charley has to find a missing wife and solve the cold case of a teenage who disappeared without a trace over a decade ago. &nbsp;Ms. Jones pulls no punches there. And then there’s Reyes.&nbsp; Charley needs to find him to keep him alive, but he doesn’t want to be found. &nbsp;He’d rather let his body die, even if that brings about the end of the world. &nbsp;What’s a Grim Reaper to do?&nbsp; I loved this audiobook, but then again, I’m a sucker for bad boys. Son of Satan – how much more bad can a boy get? &nbsp;</span></div><div style="color: black; margin-top: 1pt; text-align: left;"><span>&nbsp;</span></div><div style="color: black; margin-top: 1pt; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="color: black; margin-top: 1pt; text-align: left;"><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:PunctuationKerning/> <w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/> <w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables/> <w:SnapToGridInCell/> <w:WrapTextWithPunct/> <w:UseAsianBreakRules/> <w:DontGrowAutofit/> </w:Compatibility> <w:BrowserLevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" LatentStyleCount="156"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} </style> <![endif]--> </div><div style="margin-top: 1.0pt; mso-pagination: widow-orphan lines-together;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1310823404l/12043770.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1310823404l/12043770.jpg" width="221" /></a></div><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:PunctuationKerning/> <w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/> <w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables/> <w:SnapToGridInCell/> <w:WrapTextWithPunct/> <w:UseAsianBreakRules/> <w:DontGrowAutofit/> </w:Compatibility> <w:BrowserLevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" LatentStyleCount="156"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} </style> <![endif]--> <br /><div style="color: #f4cccc; margin-top: 1pt; text-align: left;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Third Grave Dead Ahead</b> <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">– The Best of Three Worlds:</b></div><div style="color: #f4cccc; margin-top: 1pt; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="color: #f4cccc; margin-top: 1pt; text-align: left;">Just like in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">First Grave on the Right</i> and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Second Grave on the Left</i>, this third book in the series blends great comedic style, scorching, blistering sex, and serious drama.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>At the end of the last book, Charley bound Reyes to his corporeal form. He is mad and he is taking his anger out on Charley by intruding into her life day and night. In the meantime, Charley is hired by a man to find his wife, except she’s sure that he killed his wife, or at least believes he killed her.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>This book has more twists than a Chubby Checker song.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>It also has a painful development in Charley’s relationship with her father, and a promising new friendship between Charley and a local biker gang.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: right;"><blockquote class="tr_bq"><span style="color: black;">&nbsp;</span><i><b><span style="color: black;"> </span></b></i></blockquote></div><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: left;"><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:PunctuationKerning/> <w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/> <w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables/> <w:SnapToGridInCell/> <w:WrapTextWithPunct/> <w:UseAsianBreakRules/> <w:DontGrowAutofit/> </w:Compatibility> <w:BrowserLevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" LatentStyleCount="156"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} </style> <![endif]--> </div><div style="color: #f4cccc; margin-top: 1pt; text-align: left;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">On Narration:</b></div><div style="color: #f4cccc; margin-top: 1pt; text-align: left;">I’m not going to lie. The only two reasons I purchased the Charley Davidson series were because: (1) it fit the paranormal/urban fantasy mystery genre; and (2) <a href="http://www.loreleiking.com/">Lorelei King</a><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span> <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>narrated it. As usual, she doesn’t disappoint. If you’re familiar with Janet Evanovich’s <a href="http://www.evanovich.com/novels/plum-series/"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">StephaniePlum</i></a> <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>series, you know how well Ms. King pulls of snarky, and there’s plenty of snark in these books. She gives great cop voice, and there are a ton of cops in this book. Lorelei King even does a good biker gang…wait, that sounded wrong. You know what I mean. In one of the books, she even clucks like a chicken. The things a narrator does for her art.&nbsp;</div><div style="color: black; margin-top: 1pt; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="color: #fce5cd; margin-top: 1pt; text-align: left;"><b>Some fantastic quotes:</b></div><div style="color: #fce5cd; margin-top: 1pt; text-align: left;"><b>&nbsp;</b> </div><div style="color: #fce5cd; margin-top: 1pt; text-align: left;"><b><i><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Some girls wear Prada. Some girls wear Glock 17 short recoil spring-loaded semiautomatic pistols with a loaded chamber indicator and a nonslip grip.</span></i></b></div><div style="color: #fce5cd; text-align: left;"> </div><div style="text-align: left;"><blockquote class="tr_bq" style="color: #cfe2f3;"><div><blockquote class="tr_bq"><div style="color: black; margin-top: 1pt;"><i style="color: #fce5cd;"><b>...and then she glared at me, the same glare my stepmother used to give me when I gave her the Nazi salute. That woman was so touchy about her resemblance to Hitler.</b></i><b><i><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;; font-size: 12pt;"> </span></i></b><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;; font-size: 12pt;"></span></div></blockquote></div></blockquote></div><div style="text-align: left;"> </div><div style="text-align: left;"><blockquote class="tr_bq" style="color: #d9ead3;"><div style="margin-top: 1pt;"><i><b>If I couldn't be a good example, I'd just have to be a horrible warning.</b></i></div></blockquote></div><div style="color: #cfe2f3; text-align: right;"><div style="text-align: left;"><blockquote class="tr_bq"><i><b>&nbsp;I like to see the glass as half full, hopefully of Jack Daniels.</b></i></blockquote></div><div style="text-align: left;"> </div><div style="text-align: left;"><blockquote class="tr_bq" style="color: #fce5cd;"><i><b>I strode toward Mr. Coffee with lust in my eyes. We'd had a thing for quite some time now Mr. Coffee and I...</b></i></blockquote></div><div style="text-align: left;"> </div><div style="text-align: left;"><blockquote class="tr_bq" style="color: #d9d2e9;"><div><blockquote class="tr_bq"><div style="margin-top: 1pt;"><i><b>A sheriff arrested me. I could be mistaken, but I'm pretty sure my men-in-uniform fetish began that day. The sheriff was hot. And he handcuffed me. I've never been the same.</b></i></div></blockquote></div></blockquote></div><div style="text-align: left;"><i><b>“No. This has to do with drugs."<br />My jaw fell open and I almost lost my toothbrush. "You're on drugs?"<br />She pressed her mouth together. "No. You are."<br />"I'm on drugs?" I asked, stunned. I had no idea.”</b></i> </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><i><b>Let me express how much I don't care on a scale of one to bite me</b></i></div><div style="text-align: left;"><blockquote class="tr_bq"><i style="color: #d0e0e3;"><b>But give up my business? The same business I'd built from the ground up with my own two hands and designer Louis Vuittons? The same business for which I'd sacrificed blood, sweat, and tears? Well, maybe not sweat and tears, but there was blood. Lots of blood. Give it up? Not likely. Besides, what else would I do? I totally should've gone to Hogwarts when I had the chance</b></i>.</blockquote></div></div></div><div style="text-align: left;"> </div></div><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:PunctuationKerning/> <w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/> <w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables/> <w:SnapToGridInCell/> <w:WrapTextWithPunct/> <w:UseAsianBreakRules/> <w:DontGrowAutofit/> </w:Compatibility> <w:BrowserLevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" LatentStyleCount="156"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} </style> <![endif]--> <br /><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;; font-size: 12pt;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;; font-size: 12pt;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;; font-size: 12pt;"><a href="http://us.macmillan.com/Audio.aspx"></a> </span>http://literaryurbanfantasyreview.blogspot.com/2012/04/humorous-death-charley-davidson-series.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Dharma Kurlind)2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5236303228316094966.post-9208934480137678918Wed, 13 Jul 2011 01:41:00 +00002011-07-12T21:41:42.861-04:00FaeJennifer Van DyckRichelle MeadThorn Queen – Dark Swan Series, Book 2<!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} </style> <![endif]--><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:PunctuationKerning/> <w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/> <w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables/> <w:SnapToGridInCell/> <w:WrapTextWithPunct/> <w:UseAsianBreakRules/> <w:DontGrowAutofit/> </w:Compatibility> <w:BrowserLevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" LatentStyleCount="156"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} </style> <![endif]--> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-8VCS_uKAiUI/Thz0rrFl9vI/AAAAAAAAAIE/TPueu1Hn7Xo/s1600/51C0P9h8JvL.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-8VCS_uKAiUI/Thz0rrFl9vI/AAAAAAAAAIE/TPueu1Hn7Xo/s320/51C0P9h8JvL.jpg" width="195" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Books</b>:</div><div class="MsoNormal">1.&nbsp;<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><a href="http://www.audible.com/pd/ref=sr_1_3?asin=B0033VJEGE&amp;qid=1310515249&amp;sr=1-3">Storm Born</a> </i>(January 12, 2010)&nbsp;&nbsp;<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp;&nbsp;</span></div><div class="MsoNormal">2.&nbsp; <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp;</span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><a href="http://www.audible.com/pd/ref=sr_1_2?asin=B0030CNN1S&amp;qid=1310515249&amp;sr=1-2">Thorn Queen</a> </i>(December 10, 2009) – <b><span style="color: #660000;">4 out of 5</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal">3.&nbsp;<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><a href="http://www.audible.com/pd/ref=sr_1_1?asin=B004NEGM1K&amp;qid=1310515249&amp;sr=1-1">Iron Crowned</a> </i>(February 22, 2011)<b><span style="color: #660000;"></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal">4.&nbsp; <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp;</span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Shadow Heir </i>(January, 2012) </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Author:</b>&nbsp; <a href="http://www.richellemead.com%20/">Richelle Mead</a><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp;&nbsp;</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Narrator:</b>&nbsp; <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0886700/">Jennifer Van Dyck</a> <b>– <span style="color: #660000;">3.5 out of 5 </span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Length:</b>&nbsp; 11:07, available on audible <a href="http://www.audible.com/pd/ref=sr_1_2?asin=B0030CNN1S&amp;qid=1310515249&amp;sr=1-2">here</a> <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp;</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>FTC Disclosure: </b><i>&nbsp;<a href="http://www.audible.com/int/Audible_Frontiers"><b>Audible Frontiers</b></a> has graciously provided me with an audio version of this book for reviewing purposes.&nbsp; Aside from this courtesy copy, I have received no payment or services in exchange for this review.</i> </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Summary:</b></div><div class="MsoNormal">In <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Storm Born</i>,<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> </i>Eugenie Markham discovered that she was not just a powerful shaman who maked her living banishing other-worldly creatures out of the mortal realm.&nbsp; She found out that she is half fae.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>As the daughter of the late Storm King, it is prophecy that she will give birth to a son who will conquer the mortal realm for the fae.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>At the beginning of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Thorn Queen</i>, Eugenie is stuck between two worlds.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>In Arizona, Eugenie is still the shaman her mom and step-dad raised, living with her were-fox veterinarian boyfriend, Kiyo, who wants nothing more than for her to stay away from the Otherworld.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>But she can’t do that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>Not after Dorian, the fae Oak King, tricked her into bonding with the land she conquered, and becoming its queen - the Thorn Queen.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>On her first trip back after months, she discovers that she's in charge of the health and happiness of the people she conquered and her reluctance to rule is causing starvation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>With her crazy half-sister still on the lam, the Thorn Land’s economy dying, and gentry girls disappearing, Eugenie needs to choose. Choose between humans and fae, between the mortal world and the Otherworld, between Kiyo and Dorian.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>Something has to give.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-7h3FFb2XqhQ/Thz1jBp6v_I/AAAAAAAAAII/LE4ytd6iiE0/s1600/dark+swan.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="210" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-7h3FFb2XqhQ/Thz1jBp6v_I/AAAAAAAAAII/LE4ytd6iiE0/s400/dark+swan.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Absolute power corrupts absolutely</b>.</div><div class="MsoNormal">This is a typical Richelle Mead book.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>Meaning, it’s fantastic.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>If you’re not familiar with the author’s writing (such as the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><a href="http://www.richellemead.com/books/succubusblues.htm">Georgina Kincaid</a> </i>or <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><a href="http://www.richellemead.com/books/vampireacademy.htm">Vampire Academy</a> </i>series) then, to put it simply, the writing is dynamic and sexy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>The characters’ motivations, loyalties, and appeal to the reader change from chapter-to-chapter but in a way that’s believable and credible to each character.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>For example, Eugenie in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Storm Born</i> hates the fae, kills them liberally, and is disgusted by non-human men,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>Even at the end of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Storm Born</i>, her feeling about her own heritage can best be described as self-loathing and fear. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp;</span>Loathing for who her real father, the Storm King, was and what he did to humans and gentry alike, and fear that her power, which she developed with some force, would turn her into him, make her more gentry, and take over her identity.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>In <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Thorn Queen</i>, these feelings shift.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>Richelle Mead delves into what it means to be human – the good, the bad, and the ugly.&nbsp; She also discovers what it means to rule, to be responsible for others, and how far she's willing to go to protect them.</div><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span> <div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">As always, the sex scenes are phenomenal.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>Between kinky bondage sex with Dorian and the rough, passionate instinct-driven sex with Kiyo, I enjoyed the emotion that came along with it. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp;</span>It causes a good deal of tension and drama.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>Here we really see Eugenie’s jealousy of <span class="readable">Maiwenn</span>, Kiyo’s ex-girlfriend and another fae queen, whose pregnancy has brought Kiyo so much joy and the insecurity this causes to Eugenie who knows she can never risk getting pregnant because of the prophecy.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span> </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-2MZLxEhGqTc/Thz2_rkb9WI/AAAAAAAAAIM/jVFAsmoWWRA/s1600/thorn+queen+book.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-2MZLxEhGqTc/Thz2_rkb9WI/AAAAAAAAAIM/jVFAsmoWWRA/s1600/thorn+queen+book.jpg" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">On Narration:</b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0886700/%20">Jennifer Van Dyck</a><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">, who also narrates Rachel Vincent’s <a href="http://rachelvincent.com/shifters.htm"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Shifters</i></a> series,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span> has a no-nonsense tone, that works well since Eugenie’s character is supposed to be tough, butt-kicking and over-all intimidating.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>Her voice for Dorian is proper - slightly British, very aristocratic, bored and self-involved – it is just as the man is described.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>I also enjoyed how the reading generally reflected the tone of what’s happening in the book.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> N</span>ot to give too much away, but there is a scene in this audiobook that concerns abduction, drugging, and sex assault.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>Jennifer Van Dyck’s voice slowed and becomes detached, which deepens the experience for the listener. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div>http://literaryurbanfantasyreview.blogspot.com/2011/07/thorn-queen-dark-swan-series-book-2.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Dharma Kurlind)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5236303228316094966.post-4801815737643485093Wed, 06 Jul 2011 23:32:00 +00002011-07-06T19:32:16.590-04:00Iron DruidKevin HearneLuke DanielsHounded – The Iron Druid Chronicles, Book 1<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:PunctuationKerning/> <w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/> <w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables/> <w:SnapToGridInCell/> <w:WrapTextWithPunct/> <w:UseAsianBreakRules/> <w:DontGrowAutofit/> </w:Compatibility> <w:BrowserLevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" LatentStyleCount="156"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} </style> <![endif]--> <br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-yfzN2qhGolo/ThTuA0Bcs7I/AAAAAAAAAH0/tNN3b7du2e0/s1600/Hounded.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-yfzN2qhGolo/ThTuA0Bcs7I/AAAAAAAAAH0/tNN3b7du2e0/s320/Hounded.jpg" width="194" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Books</b>:</div><div class="MsoNormal"></div><div class="MsoNormal">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 1.&nbsp;&nbsp; Hounded (April 19, 2011) – <b style="color: #660000;">4 out of 5</b></div><div class="MsoNormal">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 2.&nbsp;&nbsp; Hexed (June 7, 2011) </div><div class="MsoNormal">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 3.&nbsp;&nbsp; Hammered (July 5, 2011)</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Author: </b>&nbsp;<a href="http://www.kevinhearne.com/">Kevin Hearne </a><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp;</span> </div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Narrator:&nbsp;</b> <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1149599/">Luke Daniels</a> – <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #660000;">3.5 out of 5</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</span> </b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Length:</b> 8:11, may be purchased <a href="http://reseller.brillianceaudio.com/product.asp?AuthorId=1429&amp;Titleid=27827">here</a> </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>FTC Disclosure:&nbsp; </b><a href="http://www.brillianceaudio.com/"><b><i>Brilliance Audio</i></b></a><i> has graciously provided me with an audio version of this book for reviewing purposes.&nbsp; Aside from this courtesy copy, I have received no payment, services or other reimbursement in exchange for this review.</i></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Summary:</b></div><div class="MsoNormal">He may look 21 but he is 21 centuries old, and for the last 2,000 of those years, Atticus O’Sullivan has been hounded by Aenghus Og, a fae Celtic love god from whom he stole a magical sword.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>Atticus, the last of the Druids, has been hiding out rather successfully in Tempe, Arizona, running a New Age store.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>The only ones who know his true identity are his faithful wolfhound, Oberon (with whom he can communicate mentally), his werewolf and vampire lawyers, and Morrigan, the fae queen of destruction.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp;</span>Unfortunately, as the internet makes the world smaller, the Tuatha Dé Danann (the fae) discover the true identity of Atticus O’Sullivan and are again coming for the sword.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>Tired of running, Atticus has decided to make Arizona his last stand.&nbsp;</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-jKY9ZpYerLg/ThTu5EU0SQI/AAAAAAAAAH4/qWCXLxby6-c/s1600/Iron+Druid+Chronicles.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="217" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-jKY9ZpYerLg/ThTu5EU0SQI/AAAAAAAAAH4/qWCXLxby6-c/s400/Iron+Druid+Chronicles.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Druids: they’re about more than just trees. </b></div><div class="MsoNormal">This audiobook was not what I expected.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>I expected any tale about a druid to be another Lord of the Rings-type, high fantasy, Renaissance Faire-like, tight-wearing tale. <i>Hounded</i> is not. This audiobook is very modern, very urban fantasy, incorporating the real world, the real police, including jurisdictional and media concerns.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>Tempe versus Phoenix cops?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>Check.&nbsp; Can’t go to the hospital because of the paperwork that requires? Check.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>I really appreciate that real world considerations.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>It makes the cynic in me happy. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp;</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">Also, having first read the official blurb on the book, I was worried about how many different supernatural creatures are in the story: werewolves and vampires and witches and fae and Norse gods and miscellaneous demons, oh my! <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp;</span>Usually, with that many different paranormal types, the reader starts to trip up over the storyline.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>Here, it worked because the focus remained on the fae.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>Atticus is the only Druid, and his power is witchy, making it easier on the reader.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>With the lawyers – the vampire and werewolves – these characters are ancillary enough not to complicate things.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>The only trip-up I found was with Granuaile MacTiernan. When we find out what’s up with her, I did roll my eyes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>It was just a tad too much for me.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">Overall, Hounded was a joy to listen to.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>The writing itself is very skillful and conversational.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>The tension is there continually, and it builds easily from scene to scene, at times, honestly shocking.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>I enjoyed learning with Atticus which characters he could trust and which he should fear.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>There are some very sexy moments, although the writing is PG-13.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>Also, there’s a ton of humor in this audiobook, especially from the wolfhound, who’s obsessed with Genghas Khan and French poodles, and Atticus's old neighbor, who hates the British and drinks like a fish. </div><div class="MsoNormal">&nbsp; </div><div class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">On narration:</b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1149599/">Luke Daniels</a> does not sound like a 21-year-old, but he sure does sound like he knows his Celtic.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>His pronunciation of old Irish names is spot-on.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>When he narrates Oberon, he sounds like a big, loveable, fuzzy, panting hound. When he reads female voices, he doesn’t pitch his voice up high, but he makes his tone softer and breathier, which works as most females in Hounded are sexual characters.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>His accents, specifically Polish and Hindi, were passable.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>Overall, the reading went well with the story.</div>http://literaryurbanfantasyreview.blogspot.com/2011/07/hounded-iron-druid-chronicles-book-1.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Dharma Kurlind)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5236303228316094966.post-735081793595064840Sun, 08 May 2011 16:26:00 +00002011-05-08T12:26:09.317-04:00Charlaine Harris; AnthologyCrimes by Moonlight – Mysteries from the Dark Side<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-M_D9pBs9W6U/TcavdJC_0qI/AAAAAAAAAHo/-qIYD7S9Wlg/s1600/7172680.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-M_D9pBs9W6U/TcavdJC_0qI/AAAAAAAAAHo/-qIYD7S9Wlg/s320/7172680.jpg" width="211" /></a></div><b>&nbsp; </b><br /><b>Book:</b> &nbsp; <a href="http://www.audible.com/pd/ref=sr_1_1?asin=B004USQ5IE&amp;qid=1304866373&amp;sr=1-1">Crimes by Moonlight</a> <b>- <span style="color: #660000;">4 out of 5</span> </b><br /><b>Editor:</b> &nbsp; <a href="http://www.blogger.com/goog_328983757">Charlaine Harris</a><b><a href="http://www.charlaineharris.com/biography.html"> </a></b><br /><b>Narrators</b>:&nbsp;&nbsp; <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0743716/">Natalie Ross</a> <b>- <span style="color: #660000;">4 out of 5</span><br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </b><a href="http://www.brillianceaudio.com/reseller/narratorinfo.asp?narratorid=431">Jeff Cummings</a> -<span style="color: #660000;"> </span><b style="color: #660000;">3 out of 5</b><br /><b>Length:</b> &nbsp; 13:00, available <a href="http://reseller.brillianceaudio.com/product.asp?AuthorId=1675&amp;Titleid=32049&amp;src=4&amp;ed=258">here </a><br /><br /><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>FTC Disclosure:&nbsp; </b><i></i><a href="http://www.brillianceaudio.com/"><b><i>Brilliance Audio</i></b></a><i> has graciously provided me with an audio version of this book for reviewing purposes.&nbsp; Aside from this courtesy copy, I have received no payment, services or other reimbursement in exchange for this review.</i></div><br /><br />&nbsp; <br /><br /><br /><b>1. Dahlia Underground</b> – <a href="http://www.charlaineharris.com/biography.html">Charlaine Harris</a> <br />This book takes place in <a href="http://www.charlaineharris.com/bibliography/bibliog-sookie.html">Sookiverse</a>, somewhere during or right after the 7th Southern Vampire Mystery series book, <i>All Together Dead</i>. If you’re not familiar with the books or <a href="http://www.hbo.com/true-blood?cmpid=s1tb&amp;K_CLICKID=45a2c2a5-ef3e-7488-ba54-00005854aa3e"><i>True Blood</i></a>, this is a parallel universe where after the Japanese develop synthetic blood, vampires come out of the coffins and integrate into human society. Dahlia Lynley-Chivers, a several-hundred-year-old vampire who is famous for breaking the arm of a newswoman who refused to stop asking her questions, finds herself stuck in a hole with a dead vampire and a dead human after the conservative, anti-vampire hate group, Fellowship of the Sun, bombed her hotel during a vampire convention in Rhodes, Illinois. About 300 vampires are dead. Cedric, sheriff of Rhodes, sends Taffy and Dahlia to infiltrate the Fellowship and bring the culprits to justice.<br /><br />It’s a fun story, but there’s not much conflict and little tension. This is clearly something for the avid fans of the series, but if you’re not familiar, you’re not going to truly enjoy the story. <br /><br /><br /><b>2. Hixton</b> – <a href="http://www.williamkentkrueger.com/about.html">William Kent Krueger</a> <br />People all over the county visit the ornery old Albert Goreman’s pig farm. Sure he’s old and mean, and he sits on his porch with a shotgun threatening the customers, but everyone knows that Mr. Goreman has the most delicious hams around, home-made from the pigs he pens. Martin Deangelo traveled from Hixton to visit Albert Goreman for a different reason. He is there investigate the disappearance of five Hixton teenage boys from back when he was young. Martin Deangelo tells Goreman, who was the investigator back than, that he is a reporter, that he wishes to learn the truth. This short story brings back the old adage: be careful what you wish for.<br /><br />This short story is a very fun listen. It has a feel of a familiar urban legend or maybe just a story you probably already read in a newspaper a long time ago. The mystery is well foreshadowed and expected, but the ending is not. It has a unexpected karmic twist to it. <br /><br /><br /><b>3. Small Change</b> – <a href="http://www.margaretmaron.com/">Margaret Maron </a><br />A 13-year-old girl whose dad owns an antique story tries to solve a mystery after a number of small items of little value begin disappearing. With her unique gift of shape-shifting into inanimate objects, Laurel transforms into a cheap statute of a goddess in order spy on the pilferer and to catch him or her in the act. Unfortunately, she's the one who gets caught. Next thing she knows, she finds her inanimate self kidnapped, stolen, and driven away in the trunk of the shoplifter’s car.<br /><br />A surprising story. It’s cute, mysterious, and it’s nice to see a shape shifter who isn’t a werewolf or something similar to it. There’s almost a coming-of-age feel to it, and a pseudo-happy ending. <br /><b><br /></b><br /><b>4. The Trespassers</b> – <a href="http://www.brendandubois.com/">Brendan DuBois</a><br />The Logan House, located in the small New England town of Salem Falls, has an interesting history. The new owners purchased the it with dreams of renovating to place into a Victorian bed and breakfast. They even hired a lawyer to make their case before the zoning board. As a publicity stunt, they invited two teenagers to do a paranormal investigation. When one of the investigators drops dead, apparently from a fall, they find themselves with more of a problem than they can handle.<br /><br />This is another urban legend type short story, like “Hixton.” This one is told from the point of view of the town’s sheriff, which gives it an unexpected twist toward the end. However, it does start off a bit slow though. It’s worth a listen, but not particularly great. <br /><br /><br /><b>5. Madeeda</b> – <a href="http://www.harleyjanekozak.com/">Harley Jane Kozak </a><br />A pregnant woman, her husband, and their 2-year-old twins sold their small Pennsylvania home and moved across the country so that her husband could work his dream job for a major corporation. The dream job turns into a nightmare when her husband accidentally discovers that the company is involved in a white-collar crime cover-up. In their old, fixer-upper home, Jane’s twins start seeing a ghost - Madeeda, a purple witch. The disturbances keep coming. The twins start repeating a series of strange numbers “twelve-e-twenty-one-e.” Jane makes her bed, but a few hours later, it looks like someone had slept there. Jane sees cracks in the window that disappear the next day. The family pet throwing up because the twins insist that Madeeda made the dog sick. The pregnant Jane starts to unexpectedly hemorrhage, which sends her to the hospital after her husband confesses that his company is engaging in crime but that he doesn’t know what to do about it.<br /><br />There's not enough that can be said about this short story.&nbsp; I am not surprised that “Madeeda” has been nominated for an International Thriller Writer award. This short story basically has it all. It has a wonderfully creepy tone, and it has a moral theme. You empathize with the narrator, but you also understand what her husband is going through. You even come to feel for Madeeda.<br /><br /><br /><b>6. House of Horrors </b>- <a href="http://swhubbard.net/">S. W. Hubbard</a><br />John and Miriam Harrigan and their two sons, the older Gordon and the younger Christopher, are an average family. Or rather, they were, until they took in Grace, a quiet and precocious 9-year old with a muddled past. The family decides to celebrate the addition of Grace to the family with their first official outing to Seaside Heights at the Jersey Shore. On the family's way into the House of Horrors attraction, a high-school-aged jerk makes fun of Grace's new family. Mysteriously, that jerk disappears inside the fun house. The police get involved. Miriam is sure that Grace is simply a strange little girl because of her past experiences with her disappearing parents, her disappearing uncle, and her abandonment by her other family to the foster system. John starts to suspect Grace has something to do with all the mysterious disappearances. John starts to think the little girl may be more than he bargained for.<br /><br />This is probably one of my favorite stories in this collection. “House of Horrors” is strangely cerebral in that you really understand where John is coming from, how he’s feeling, and why he’s afraid of the little girl. Moreover, there is no overt supernatural element in this short story. It’s merely a question of belief. Miriam believes it’s all imagination while John believes it’s all real. What makes this story one of my favorites is without a doubt the ending. It’s not climactic, but it’s very satisfying. <br /><br /><br /><b>7. Sift, Almost Invisible, Through</b> - <a href="http://jeffreysomers.com/blather/">Jeffrey Somers</a><br />Marx is a jaded reporter on the paranormal, so he gets to hear all sorts of strange stories. However, he doesn't know what to make of the one he just received. A man comes to him for help. He brings him photos of himself taken through the years. In different locations and at different times. At his home and in foreign countries. In each photo, there appears to be a man staring at the camera. In the oldest photos, the man is so far away, he's part of the scenery. However, with each more recent photo, the man is getting closer and closer. Marx's new informant swears that not only does he not know the identity of this man, but that, in fact, this man is <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antigonish_%28poem%29">the man who wasn't there</a>. He was never in the places were the photo was taken. He only exists in those photographs.<br /><br />This is an interesting story because of the twist in the middle of it, but I found it a bit too <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0298130/"><i>The Ring</i></a> at the end, which if you've ever seen the movie, you'll know is not morally satisfying. It has a nice urban legend feel to it and it's a good listen, but the strange mystery is never really solved so the story didn’t gel with me. <br /><br /><b><br /></b><br /><b>8. The Bedroom Door </b>- <a href="http://www.elaineviets.com/">Elaine Viets</a><br />Francine was never as pretty as her business partner Angela, who has friends with benefits and still maintains a strict professional life. She was never as pretty as her 15-year old daughter. In high school, Francine was a nerd. But she's a happy woman, with a loving husband, a great interior design career, a daughter who will one day surely outgrow her teenage angst. All this changes when Francine's grandmother tells her she saw Angela in her bedroom doorway. You see, Francine’s grandmother has a strange gift, or rather a strange curse. When she sees a person in her bedroom door, that person will is sure to die in three days. And Francine’s grandmother also has a feeling that Angela's death will involve Francine, and a crime of some sort.<br /><br />Maybe I’m too jaded, but I saw the surprise twist in the end coming pretty early on in this story and it ruined it for me. Also, whenever you have a story where the hero is told in the beginning what will happen to them in the end, and they still step into that scenario, the story may lack credibility it isn’t properly steered. This hero should have, due to circumstances, really, truly, had no choice but to act the way her grandmother had predicted.&nbsp; However, even in the emotionally charged way that this story was written toward the end, I felt that our hero should have (and more importantly could have) acted differently.<br /><br /><br /><b>9. The Conqueror Worm</b> - <a href="http://www.barbaradamato.com/">Barbara D'Amato</a><br />Neil is a careful man with a guilty conscience. This conscience starts sending Neil emails. Emails from Burko, his friend who had died. Emails that call him by a nickname only he and Burko knew.&nbsp; Emails that details a night of horror that only he and Burko could remember. Emails that accuse him of being the cause of Burko's death.&nbsp; Emails that disappear after reading, that don't show up in photos, that no one else can see.<br /><br />This story definitely has an urban legend feel, which usually makes me enjoy it, but this short story missed the spot for me. There was something that felt kind of O.C.D. about the characters. I didn’t connect with Neil enough to care about him. I cared more about his girlfriend, which made the ending fun and definitely made me smile, but she’s not the main character, so the majority of the story was very <a href="http://www.poemuseum.org/life.php">Edgar Allan Poe</a>’s “<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tell-Tale_Heart">Tell-Tale Heart</a>.” <br /><br /><br /><b>10. In Memory of the </b><i><b>Sibylline</b> </i>- <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/3452047.Lou_Kemp">Lou Kemp </a><br />This tale is the beginning of one of the most well-known ghost stories to date. It takes place when most of the Third World was part of some larger European-based empires, back when <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rule,_Britannia%21">Britannia ruled the waives.</a> A doctor, his pregnant wife, and his young daughter Felicity find themselves on board with an unscrupulous captain who has dealings with pirates and a mysterious, magical prisoner who is to be kept away from all other persons.The prisoner tells us he has been imprisoned because he practices witchcraft.&nbsp; We soon learn that he is no prisoner at all, but that all others are really his prisoner.<br /><br />I loved this story. It’s recognizable, especially now with the popular <a href="http://piratesonline.go.com/welcome"><i>Pirate of the Caribbean</i></a>. Parts of the story still remain a mystery, as the short story seems to start at the end.&nbsp; Perhaps I didn’t pay close enough attention, but I’m not sure exactly what happens at the end either to Felicity or to the doctor. There is entirely too much left to speculation about where the story, or the ship, really goes. Still, I enjoyed the listen.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-mZCxZgD8pZ0/TcbAvBcgvcI/AAAAAAAAAHs/Yt_tKLiOmTs/s1600/Crimes+by+Moonlight.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-mZCxZgD8pZ0/TcbAvBcgvcI/AAAAAAAAAHs/Yt_tKLiOmTs/s320/Crimes+by+Moonlight.jpg" width="208" /></a></div><b>11. The Bloodflower</b> - <a href="http://www.meyersmysteries.com/home.html">Martin Meyers </a><br />Hope was ugly, fat, limp hair, bad skin, and had a terrible job in the mail room of the cable station. Then she met Pandora, her landlady, who gave Hope an amulet in honor of the goddess Hecate. Now, Hope is beautiful, sexy, with a great job as a cable producer. She is everything she ever wanted to be, but at what cost? <br /><br />I did not enjoy this story. I think the author was going for a moral, but I cannot figure out what it was since every character is despicable. Perhaps the point is that beauty is skin deep, but when Hope was ugly, she didn’t seem much better a human being. Her love interest, Rusty, is also morally bankrupt. He best friend is awful.&nbsp; Her bosses, her coworkers, all terrible human beings.&nbsp; It just seems like this story is filled to the brim with outwardly beautiful, internally awful humans who end up in a hell of their own making, but deserve each other and deserve to be there. <br /><br /><br /><b>12. The Awareness</b> – <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/3452048.Terrie_Farley_Moran">Terrie Farley Moran </a><br />A banshee who has followed the O’Connor clan in America has spent her life properly mourning the line and their descendents with the banshee cry to mark each of their deaths. But when the banshee gets the awareness of Casey Rinegold's death, something is different. It isn’t just a death, but likely a murder. And the banshee feel that the proper send off is not to merely wail but to solve the crime and bring the murderer to justice.<br /><br />This story is a typical mystery with some fun references to Irish lore. Personally, I always roll my eyes when at the end the culprit spills all of her or her plans and reasons for killing and how it was done. It just seems too easy. But overall, a surprisingly fun listen, <br /><b><br /></b><br /><b>13. Tadesville</b> – <a href="http://www.jackfredrickson.com/index2.htm">Jack Fredrickson </a><br />Jim Crack (as in Jimmy crack corn) returned from the war to Michigan in 1954. He, the banjo man, and his veteran buddies, who play the jug and the washboard, travel town to town, playing grassroots favorites and then “browsing” or rather stealing and pilfering the town before high-tailing to the next one. Then they come upon Tadesville, a seemingly abandoned village that no one's heard of. When no one comes out to hear them play and sing, the boys go browsing. Jim Crack refuses. He is starting to worry about his choices in life, about his moral standing. Instead of stealing gasoline in random garages as he's instructed to do, he walks down the road and finds a woman in the woods of Tadesville. She's beautiful.&nbsp; She asks him if he’s “greedy."&nbsp; The beautiful woman him a cheap-looking ring and tells him they'll wait and see.<br /><br />This was a strangely depressing story. It reminds me of something that happened to a bunch of Odysseus’s men in the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Odyssey"><i>Odyssey</i></a>. Rolling with that theme, the whole grassroots hoedown band reminds me of <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0190590/"><i>Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?</i></a> I honestly didn’t expect it to be depressing. It was a good listen, but the ending threw me through a loop. <br /><b><br /></b><br /><b>14. Limbo</b> – <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/142412.Steve_Brewer">Steve Brewer </a><br />A hired thug wakes up in the morgue, light streaming out of bullet hole in his head. He has no memory of what happened, how he got there, and who tried to kill him. But has some memory of some of the bad guys he's had dealings with.&nbsp; The thug binds up his head, steals the clothes off the morgue attendant he scared to death by rising, and is out to find out who killed him and to make that person pay.<br /><br />I didn’t particularly like this story. The characters is typical as are the twists. What I did like in this short story was the sense of karma and the idea of killing someone you hate twice. <br /><b><br /></b><br /><b>15. The Insider</b> – <a href="http://mwiecek.com/">Mike Wiecek </a><br />Earnest Appleworth comes to a private security man, one who specializes in ghosts and used to work for the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lehman_Brothers">Lehman Brothers</a>, with a very strange problem. Earnest is making too much money. A ghost of a horribly massacred man in tattered businessware is giving Earnest tips on the stock market. The ghost is always right. So is it a crime for Earnest to accept these tips? Is it a case of insider trading? That depends on who this ghost was in real life. Earnest would like the security man to find out.<br /><br />This story was saved by the twist ending. The ghost’s motivations in making Earnest rich don’t particularly jive with me. I didn’t really care one way or the other who killed the ghost. What hits the spot is the answer to the real question: how does this ghost know which stocks to bid on? Surely ghosts can’t go forward in time, so how can our nameless ghost always be right on which stocks will make money? The answer is a bit like peeking under a magician's sleeve.&nbsp; It will make you smile. <br /><br /><br /><b>16. Swing Shift</b> – <a href="http://www.danacameron.com/">Dana Cameron </a><br />It’s war-time America, maybe 1940s, and Jake is asked by his friend, Harry, an FBI man, to fly to Boston to investigate how government secrets are being leaked out of a research facility in Cambridge. Jake plays the part of a janitor and easily discovers that one of the research workers is unwittingly leaking information to her boyfriend. But the case is just too easy. Why couldn’t Harry figure it out himself?<br /><br />This story had a nice war-time feel to it that will appeal to those who enjoy a good historical story. As a mystery, it’s okay. As a paranormal mystery, I thought it was a bit overdone. There were a lot of gratuitous supernaturals in such a short story to make sense. It was almost like the Justice League of vampires, shapeshifters, etc.<br /><br /><br /><b>17. Riding High</b> – <a href="http://www.carolynhart.com/">Carolyn Hart </a><br />Bailey Ruth is a ghost – er, “emissary” - who works for the Department of Good Intentions. Her job is to assist those in trouble. Bailey Ruth isn’t that great at sticking to all the rules though and is on probation when she finishes her last mission.&nbsp; She followed the rules this time, but has to wait for the Express to take her to heaven, and that means hovering over a country club for a few hours. Getting restless, Bailey Ruth notices a woman who seems to be a victim of domestic violence, and simply has to intervene, rules be damned – er, darned.<br /><br />This story is just plain cute. There is a twist in the middle that I didn’t see coming, but from that point on, cute is the word to describe it. <br /><br /><br /><b>18. Grave Matter </b>– <a href="http://www.maxallancollins.com/blog/">Max Allan Collins</a> &amp; <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mickey_Spillane">Mickey Spillane</a> <br />In the early 1950s, Mike Hammer (the hero of the 1947 “<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I,_the_Jury">I, the Jury</a>” comic) is a big-shot detective from New York City.&nbsp; He comes to the sorry little hamlet of Hopeful to investigate the death of his friend, Bill Reynolds. Bill was a football hero, a war hero, and ended up a disabled veteran working in Hopeful as a handyman. Then, Bill’s body was found in the park, and the police assumed Bill was hit by a car. Hammer finds out that Bill had worked for the gorgeous, secretive Dr. Victory Riddle. Hammer finds out that Dr. Riddle’s last handyman was also an amputee like Bill. And who also died mysteriously.<br /><br />The story is very, unsurprisingly, comic-book like. Mike Hammer is your average trench-coat-wearing, big-talking, New York City investigator in a small town. Victory Riddle is your average mad-scientist with a killer body and maybe a killer mind. There are very few surprises, and I’m still not sure there was anything supernatural in this short story. <br /><br /><br /><b>19. Death of a Vampire</b> – <a href="http://parnellhall.com/">Parnell Hall</a><br /><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:PunctuationKerning/> <w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/> <w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables/> <w:SnapToGridInCell/> <w:WrapTextWithPunct/> <w:UseAsianBreakRules/> <w:DontGrowAutofit/> </w:Compatibility> <w:BrowserLevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" LatentStyleCount="156"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} </style> <![endif]--> <br /><blockquote><blockquote><div class="MsoNormal"><i>“How do you kill a vampire? Silver bullets?”</i></div><i> </i><div class="MsoNormal"><i>“That’s werewolves.”</i></div><i> </i><div class="MsoNormal"><i>“Garlic?”</i></div><i> </i><div class="MsoNormal"><i>“That’s French bread.”</i></div></blockquote></blockquote>A private investigator is hired by a Columbia student, a goth chick who wants the private investigator to find out if her boyfriend is truly a vampire. The girl’s father is also very curious about the young man, whom he hates. But our investigator can’t seem to pin the so-called vampire down. He talks to him, but can’t get a straight answer. The next thing he knows, the vampire's dead and so is the answer to his identity.<br /><br />Like with “Grave Matter,” and “House of Horrors,” I’m not sure there’s anything supernatural in this short story, but I suppose that’s the point. It’s cheeky, but the story has the same problem I’ve seen in a few other stories like "Bloodflower": I don’t sympathize with any of the characters. The goth chick/client is too annoying and childish. The perhaps-vampire boyfriend is too philosophical and evasive. Our investigator and his friend are too callous and self-interested. I understand the dilemma, but I'm not engaged enough to care about these people.<br /><br /><br /><b>20. Taking the Long View</b> – <a href="http://www.tonilpkelner.com/">Toni L. P. Kelner</a><br />Marc, a freshly turned vampire, goes to a gala with his maker and lover Stella. The party is thrown by Ramon, the joker of the vampire community, for Velmous, Stella and Ramon’s maker. The party turns into a murder mystery after a beautiful human concubine, Rinette, is suspected of having killed her vampire employer Jeff. Marc, a contract attorney, is certain that Rinette – however greedy and dumb – is innocent. He takes on her case to keep her from being sentenced as a slave to Jeff’s maker.<br /><br />I liked this story. I didn’t see the ending coming, and even though the main characters are all of the fanged variety, the story illustrates all the same human flaws that undeath can’t seem to cure like lust, greed, betrayal, love, pride and financial dependence. It’s a regular dinner-theater murder mystery with a little <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perry_Mason"><i>Perry Mason</i></a> thrown in.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-aZimGkHXFag/TcbA2fsiubI/AAAAAAAAAHw/fjovs4TDPaY/s1600/41u%252BJDJ2SaL.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-aZimGkHXFag/TcbA2fsiubI/AAAAAAAAAHw/fjovs4TDPaY/s320/41u%252BJDJ2SaL.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><b>On Narration:</b> <br />This short story compilation was narrated by <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0743716/">Natalie Ross</a><b> </b><b><span style="color: #660000;"></span></b>and <a href="http://www.brillianceaudio.com/reseller/narratorinfo.asp?narratorid=431">Jeff Cummings</a>.&nbsp; I am familiar with Natalie Ross's narrations through her reading of <a href="http://www.karenmoning.com/kmm/">Karen Marie Moning</a>'s <i>Dreamfever</i> and <i>Shawdowfever</i>, reviewed <a href="http://literaryurbanfantasyreview.blogspot.com/2011/02/fever-series-part-ii.html">here</a>, with <a href="http://www.audiofilemagazine.com/gvpages/A2456.shtml">Phil Gigante</a>.&nbsp; Therefore, I expected that like. with Phil Gigante, Natalie Ross and Jeff Cummings would duly read the stories, each adding the vocals for female or male voices respectively.&nbsp; I was a bit let down when I realized that Natalie Ross read half the stories and Jeff Cummings read the rest without any collaboration.&nbsp; For me, this hurt Jeff Cummings's readings more than Natalie Ross's, because I always find men mimicking female voices a bit comical.&nbsp; I enjoyed most of Natalie Ross's readings in that her voice has a soft lilt that complemented some stories, like "Riding High" and "Small Change."&nbsp; That same voice unfortunately emphasized the things I didn't like in other stories, like the rather naive and slightly petty tone of "Bedroom Door." Jeff Cummings has a great voice for film-noir type stories like "Grave Matter," where his reading of the small-town police chief actually gives the man's voices a "blubbering" edge.&nbsp; However, Jeff Cumming's voice is just too cheerful for most of these stories.&nbsp; I think his reading was what threw me most in "Tadesville," which I expected from his fun and happy tone to have not be as depressing as the story turned out.&nbsp; But then again, that cheerful tone also threw me in "the Trespasser," which added to the twist in the story.http://literaryurbanfantasyreview.blogspot.com/2011/05/crimes-by-moonlight-mysteries-from-dark.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Dharma Kurlind)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5236303228316094966.post-495986859283145908Sat, 30 Apr 2011 16:51:00 +00002011-04-30T12:51:14.646-04:00A Penny For Jennifer Estep's Thoughts<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-lr_ynw29e-0/TboqR5OzwzI/AAAAAAAAAHI/pbqLXJ0BecU/s1600/25654.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-lr_ynw29e-0/TboqR5OzwzI/AAAAAAAAAHI/pbqLXJ0BecU/s320/25654.jpg" width="204" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">A Brief Interview with Jennifer Estep, the Author of the Elemental Assassin/Gin Blanco series</span>.<br /><br /><a href="http://authors.simonandschuster.com/Jennifer-Estep/62039367/biography">Official Bio</a>:&nbsp; Jennifer Estep <b> </b>is an author, prowling the streets of her imagination in search of her next fantasy idea. <i>Spider's</i> <i>Bite, Web of Lies, Venom, </i>and <i>Tangled Threads </i>are the other books in her red-hot Elemental Assassin urban fantasy series for Pocket Books. Jennifer also writes the Mythos Academy young adult urban fantasy series, which includes<a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=5236303228316094966&amp;postID=495986859283145908" name="_GoBack"></a> the forthcoming <i>Touch of Frost</i> and <i>Kiss of Frost</i>. She's also the author of the Bigtime<b> </b>paranormal romance series, including <i>Karma</i> <i>Girl, Hot Mama, </i>and <i>Jinx.</i><br /><br />Read more about Jennifer Estep in her bio on her website <a href="http://www.jenniferestep.com/bio/">here</a>.<br /><i> </i><br />More on Jennifer Estep on Author Revealed <a href="http://authors.simonandschuster.com/Jennifer-Estep/62039367/author_revealed">here</a>.<br /><br /><br /><br /><b>A Penny for Your Thoughts</b> feature on Lost Art Audio is similar to an author interview, except it is short, sweet, and focused on the audiobook. This is the second Penny for Your Thought installment from the author of <a href="http://www.blogger.com/goog_953939527">recently reviewed</a><a href="http://literaryurbanfantasyreview.blogspot.com/2011/04/tangled-threads-elemental-assassingin.html"> </a><i>Tangled Threads, </i>4th audiobook in the Elemental Assassin/Gin Blanco serious.&nbsp; Many thanks to <a href="http://www.jenniferestep.com/">Jennifer Estep</a> for taking to time to indulge my curiosity!<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-i47fI9mpd2c/Tbot_cSot3I/AAAAAAAAAHM/t8orA2FRLBU/s1600/Jennifer_Estep-SpidersBite1.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-i47fI9mpd2c/Tbot_cSot3I/AAAAAAAAAHM/t8orA2FRLBU/s320/Jennifer_Estep-SpidersBite1.png" /></a><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-MQb0SWcsg-8/TbouT2UWZfI/AAAAAAAAAHY/il91A2jS2so/s1600/WebOfLies-Estep.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a> </div><b></b><br /><br /><b>Q.&nbsp;&nbsp; Have you given audiobooks a try? How about e-books and the like? Any preference? </b><br /><blockquote><blockquote><b>J. E.</b>&nbsp; <span style="color: #fff2cc;">I’ve got the Elemental Assassin audiobooks, but I haven’t tried any other audiobooks yet. I’m planning to, though. I’ve also downloaded a few e-books and e-stories onto my computer, but I don’t have an e-reader just yet. I’ll probably get one at some point in the future. I can see the appeal of audiobooks and ebooks, and I think they’ll continue to get more and more popular.</span> </blockquote></blockquote><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><b>&nbsp;</b><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-MQb0SWcsg-8/TbouT2UWZfI/AAAAAAAAAHY/il91A2jS2so/s1600/WebOfLies-Estep.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-MQb0SWcsg-8/TbouT2UWZfI/AAAAAAAAAHY/il91A2jS2so/s320/WebOfLies-Estep.jpg" /></a><br /><br /><b>Q.&nbsp;&nbsp; All four Elemental Assassin audiobooks are narrated by <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2473063/">Lauren Fortgang</a>. Are you acquainted&nbsp;</b><b>with the actress? Have you ever met Ms. Fortgang?&nbsp; </b><br /><blockquote><blockquote><b>J. E.<span style="color: #fff2cc;"> </span></b><span style="color: #fff2cc;">I’ve not met Lauren, but she has e-mailed me about the Elemental Assassin audiobooks and asked me about some of the pronunciations and things like that. I thought that was really cool of her to take the time to do that. Judging by the e-mails that I get, everyone really seems to love her narration of the books. I do too, and I’m glad that she did the audiobook for Tangled Threads as well.</span></blockquote></blockquote><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-loZ4Q5zY_9A/Tbw8MLz6fzI/AAAAAAAAAHk/9Ac_rILHxrQ/s1600/Venom-final-2-637x1024.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-loZ4Q5zY_9A/Tbw8MLz6fzI/AAAAAAAAAHk/9Ac_rILHxrQ/s320/Venom-final-2-637x1024.jpg" width="199" /></a></div><b>Q.&nbsp;&nbsp; In the earlier books, we see a lot of the morally conflicted </b><b>Detective Donovan Caine. Tangled Thread focuses more on Gin’s budding relationship with Owen. Have we seen the last of the good detective?</b><br /><br /><blockquote><blockquote><b>J.E. </b><span style="color: #fff2cc;">I’m planning to bring Donovan back at some point. He left Gin at the end of Web of Lies, the second book in the series, which didn’t sit too well with Gin. I think that she needs some closure about their relationship on her terms. Plus, I think it will be really fun to write some scenes with Gin, Owen, and Donovan. Hopefully, it will make for some good drama!</span></blockquote></blockquote><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-EIZqB3sZ6tY/TbouPBtIIqI/AAAAAAAAAHU/IQ5Vrn47GdE/s1600/Jennifer_estep-Tangled-Threads.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><br /></a></div><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><b>&nbsp;</b><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-EIZqB3sZ6tY/TbouPBtIIqI/AAAAAAAAAHU/IQ5Vrn47GdE/s1600/Jennifer_estep-Tangled-Threads.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-EIZqB3sZ6tY/TbouPBtIIqI/AAAAAAAAAHU/IQ5Vrn47GdE/s320/Jennifer_estep-Tangled-Threads.jpg" /></a><br /><br /><b>Q.&nbsp;&nbsp; I’m sure you get this all the time, but your characters – both major and supporting – make </b><b> the</b><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-EIZqB3sZ6tY/TbouPBtIIqI/AAAAAAAAAHU/IQ5Vrn47GdE/s1600/Jennifer_estep-Tangled-Threads.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><b> </b><b>listener fall in love. Do you base them on real people in your life? Is there a real life Finn (and can I&nbsp;</b><b>have his phone number)? Have you met a real life Jo-Jo Deveraux? Who is your favorite supporting character from the bunch?</b><br /><blockquote><blockquote><b>J.E. </b><span style="color: #fff2cc;">Thanks! I appreciate that. No, I don’t base my characters on people that I know. So there’s no real-life Finnegan Lane – and maybe that’s a good thing. Although I would say that Jo-Jo is just a strong, smart woman who takes care of those around her – the mom or grandma or sister or friend that hopefully everyone has in their lives.</span></blockquote></blockquote><br /><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-HQblcGWILHg/TboxCy0o5SI/AAAAAAAAAHc/Nk56uePVMjk/s1600/JenniferEstep_Turned.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-HQblcGWILHg/TboxCy0o5SI/AAAAAAAAAHc/Nk56uePVMjk/s320/JenniferEstep_Turned.jpg" /></a><b>&nbsp;</b><br /><b>Q.&nbsp;&nbsp; The fifth audiobook, <i><a href="http://www.jenniferestep.com/excerpts-short-stories/elemental-assassin-5/">Spider’s Revenge</a></i>, is set for release in September. Can you share any details on the upcoming book? </b><br /><blockquote><blockquote><b>J. E.<span style="color: #fff2cc;"> </span></b><i style="color: #fff2cc;">Spider’s Revenge</i><span style="color: #fff2cc;"> will be out on September 27th. Basically, this book finishes out the big story arc with Gin and her nemesis, Mab Monroe, who killed Gin’s mother and older sister when Gin was a kid. The two women finally have their final confrontation, and I hope that readers and listeners enjoy the big showdown. Happy listening, everyone!</span></blockquote></blockquote><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;; font-size: 12pt;"><b>&nbsp;</b>&nbsp;</span><b><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;; font-size: 12pt;"> </span></b><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><br /><br /><span style="font-size: large;">&nbsp;</span><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;">Read Lost Art Audio's review of <a href="http://literaryurbanfantasyreview.blogspot.com/2011/04/tangled-threads-elemental-assassingin.html"><i>Tangled Threads</i></a></span></div><span style="font-size: medium;"><i>&nbsp;</i></span> </div>http://literaryurbanfantasyreview.blogspot.com/2011/04/penny-for-jennifer-esteps-thoughts.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Dharma Kurlind)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5236303228316094966.post-2209391511980793316Tue, 26 Apr 2011 04:00:00 +00002011-04-26T22:07:09.546-04:00Elemental AssassinGin BlancoJennifer EstepLauren FortgangTangled Threads – Elemental Assassin/Gin Blanco series, Book 4<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-IeG4YIHq_dI/TbPChX3EioI/AAAAAAAAAG8/5OidH9wX7s4/s1600/Jennifer_estep-Tangled-Threads.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-IeG4YIHq_dI/TbPChX3EioI/AAAAAAAAAG8/5OidH9wX7s4/s320/Jennifer_estep-Tangled-Threads.jpg" width="198" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Books</b>:</div><div class="MsoNormal">1.&nbsp; <a href="http://www.audible.com/pd/ref=sr_1_1?asin=B00408OXTC&amp;qid=1303581578&amp;sr=1-1"><i>Spider’s Bite</i></a> (September 29, 2010)&nbsp;&nbsp;</div><div class="MsoNormal">2.&nbsp; <a href="http://www.audible.com/pd/ref=sr_1_2?asin=B0041P41TQ&amp;qid=1303581578&amp;sr=1-2"><i>Web of Lies</i></a> (September 29, 2010)</div><div class="MsoNormal">3.&nbsp; <a href="http://www.audible.com/pd/ref=sr_1_3?asin=B0043BW4SI&amp;qid=1303581578&amp;sr=1-3"><i>Venom</i></a> (September 29, 2010)</div><div class="MsoNormal">4.&nbsp; <a href="http://www.audible.com/pd/ref=sr_1_1?asin=B004WKCD5E&amp;qid=1303869944&amp;sr=1-1">Tangled Threads</a> (April 26, 2011) – <b style="color: #660000;">4.5 out of 5</b></div><div class="MsoNormal">5. &nbsp;<i>Spider’s Revenge </i>(October 2011)</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Author:</b>&nbsp; <a href="http://www.jenniferestep.com/bio/">Jennifer Estep</a> &nbsp;</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Narrator:</b>&nbsp; <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2473063/">Lauren Fortgang</a> <b>– <span style="color: #660000;">4.5 out of 5&nbsp; </span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Length:</b>&nbsp; 10:19, available on audible <a href="http://www.audible.com/pd/ref=sr_1_1?asin=B004WKCD5E&amp;qid=1303869944&amp;sr=1-1">here </a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>FTC Disclosure: </b><i>&nbsp;<a href="http://www.audible.com/int/Audible_Frontiers"><b>Audible Frontiers</b></a> has graciously provided me with an audio version of this book for reviewing purposes.&nbsp; Aside from this courtesy copy, I have received no payment or services in exchange for this review.</i></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Summary:</b></div><div class="MsoNormal">Ashland, a fictional southern city located in the Appalachian Moun­tains of Tennessee, is a place where trolls, giants, dwarves, and vampires live side-by-side with humans.&nbsp; Among them are elementals, people with control over air, fire, ice, or stone, or sub-powers in between.&nbsp; This city is filled with crooked politicians, crooked cops, desperate gamblers, drug pushers, self-entitled rich, prostitute vampires, and assassins who’d take out anybody for the right price.&nbsp; And all this is owned by one Mab Monroe.&nbsp; By day, Mab is a generous socialite philanthropist. By night, she is a power-hungry tyrant, the head of a crime empire that holds Ashland in a vice-like grip.&nbsp; </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">Mab, a fire elemental, has reduced many a family to ash in her quest to remain on top.&nbsp; Genevieve Snow’s family was just another statistic.&nbsp; When Genevieve was 13, Mab received a prophecy that one of the Snow daughters, a dual stone and ice elemental, would be the end of her.&nbsp; Convinced that girl destined to kill her was Genevieve’s youngest sister, Bria, Mab killed Genevieve’s mother and her oldest sister.&nbsp; Genevieve tried to protect Bria from Mab. &nbsp;She hid her.&nbsp; She withstood torture.&nbsp; She had her silver-stone spider rune burned into her palms.&nbsp; But when she heard Bria scream, sure that Mab’s men found her sister, Genevieve used her stone power to collapse the house.&nbsp; Believing she had buried Bria in the rubble, torn by guilt and sorrow, Genevieve Snow died that night.&nbsp; Born out of Mab’s ashes was Gin Blanco, the anonymous and elusive Spider, an elemental assassin.&nbsp;&nbsp;</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-5qr-zHEEF-U/TbPGPeFwkLI/AAAAAAAAAHA/4TTxEw1N_J4/s1600/3%2527-jennifer-estep-elemental-assassin-series-audiobooks-24f87.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="160" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-5qr-zHEEF-U/TbPGPeFwkLI/AAAAAAAAAHA/4TTxEw1N_J4/s400/3%2527-jennifer-estep-elemental-assassin-series-audiobooks-24f87.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Ashland, the Sin City of the South:</b></div><div class="MsoNormal">Now retired from the assassination business, Gin is known in Ashland as the owner of the Pork Pit and nothing more.&nbsp; Her identity as the Spider is a secret, and the Spider’s services are no longer for sale.&nbsp; They are earned. In the last three books, after Gin discovered that Mab was the fire elemental who killed her family, the Spider officially declared war on Mab and her organization. &nbsp;It’s Christmas in Ashland, all the Spider wants for Christmas is Mab’s head on a pole. That feeling is mutual. Mab has hired a new assassin, Elektra LeFleur.&nbsp; Elektra’s to do list is somewhat simple: 1. Kill the Spider, Gin’s alterego; 2. Kill Detective Bria Coolidge, Gin’s youngest sister who doesn’t know Gin’s true identity; and 3. Kill Gin Blanco, the owner of the Pork Pit who stood up to Mab’s attorney. That bumps Elektra LeFleur to the top of the Spider’s to do list. Also on the list is saving a young girl from becoming a forced prostitute under Mab’s newest project by the train yards.&nbsp; Somewhere on that list is trying to connect with Bria, maybe even letting that detective know that Gin the restaurant owner is actually her older sister, a notorious assassin. Also on that list, between all the killing, Gin must figure out what to do with her 2-week relationship with the gorgeous Owen Grayson and how to get past the wreck that was her relationship with the conflicted Donovan Caine.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">I know, I know.&nbsp; I need to stop harping on the plot, but I just can’t help myself.&nbsp; It’s such a fantastic story. I am blown away by the fantastical elements, such as the giant enforcers, Elektra’s power to electrocute people from afar, and Gin’s budding use of her ice element (I don’t want to give away how this comes into play in the story, but it’s pretty awesome). &nbsp;<i>Tangled Threads </i>has the same twists, turns and conflicts that the listener has come to expect from the previous three audiobooks.&nbsp; And of course there are so many excellent characters and developments.&nbsp; I feel like I’m not doing the book justice by not mentioning more about the incredible Deveraux sisters, the ever-smooth Finnegan Lane, the gorgeous vampire/madam Roslyn, or Owen’s feisty sister, Eva. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">Some urban fantasy series are known for their <i>m<i>ise-en-scène</i></i><i><span style="font-style: normal;">.&nbsp; <a href="http://www.charlaineharris.com/biography.html">Charlaine Harris</a>’s <a href="http://www.charlaineharris.com/bibliography/bibliog-sookie.html">Southern Vampire Mystery series</a> is a good example. </span></i>&nbsp;When you listen to the <i><span style="font-style: normal;">Sookie Stackhouse books, you can feel the Louisiana </span></i>summer with that muddy Bayou humidity and you can practically smell the blood in the air.<i><span style="font-style: normal;"> The Elemental Assassin series has its own </span></i><i>m<i>ise-en-scène</i></i><i><span style="font-style: normal;">.&nbsp; And don’t be fooled by the southern accent. This is nothing like <a href="http://www.hbo.com/true-blood/index.html">True Blood</a>.&nbsp; </span></i><i>Spider’s Bite</i>, <i>Web of Lies, Venom,</i> and now <i>Tangled Threads </i>present a neo-noir hyper-reality that’s on par with the caliber of violence and villain in darker graphic novels, from <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gotham_City">Gotham</a> to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sin_City">Sin City</a>. When you listen through the parts of these audiobooks that describe how Gin lived on the street, the crack in the wall where she’d hide as a homeless 13-year-old behind the Pork Pit, the description of the opera house, of Mab’s opulent home, of Northern Aggression, Roslyn’s chic vampire brothel, you can smell the barbecue smoke in the air of the southern metropolis, you can hear the gunfire, taste the grime, you can see the black-and-white limos drive past the homeless and feel that deep-seated sense of urban decay down to the bone. Overall, this series is an incredible listen. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>On Narration:</b> </div><div class="MsoNormal">Her Russian accents aren’t great but, boy, can <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2473063/">Lauren Fortgang</a> do a southern drawl.&nbsp; Her voices aren’t consistently distinct, but they are fun.&nbsp; When Lauren Fortgang reads as Jo-Jo Deveraux, her voice is as soft, sticky, and sweet as salt-water taffy.&nbsp; When she reads Finn, her smooth words will curl your toes. I usually don’t find women reading men hot, but well, don’t believe me? Listen to the 30-second sample on audible.com <a href="http://www.audible.com/pd/ref=sr_1_1?asin=B004WKCD5E&amp;qid=1303869944&amp;sr=1-1">here</a>. Generally speaking, the reading’s a bit slow, but it’s the South, so there’s no rush. Overall, it definitely works. <i>Nota bene</i>: Lauren Fortgang has also narrated <a href="http://www.jenniferarmintrout.com/">Jennifer Armintrout</a>'s <a href="http://www.jenniferarmintrout.com/bt.html">Blood Ties</a> series. </div>http://literaryurbanfantasyreview.blogspot.com/2011/04/tangled-threads-elemental-assassingin.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Dharma Kurlind)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5236303228316094966.post-533645985420841175Tue, 19 Apr 2011 04:20:00 +00002011-04-19T00:49:45.658-04:00DemonsHillary HuberLarissa IoneLords of DeliveranceEternal Rider – Lords of Deliverance, Book 1<div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Books: </b></div><div class="MsoNormal">1. Eternal Rider (April 7, 2011) <b style="color: #660000;">3 out of 5</b></div><div class="MsoNormal">2. Immortal Rider (expected 2011)</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-c6z9kl90d9o/Ta0I1dniqFI/AAAAAAAAAG0/Fostc7ha008/s1600/51UsAMOwwLL.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-c6z9kl90d9o/Ta0I1dniqFI/AAAAAAAAAG0/Fostc7ha008/s320/51UsAMOwwLL.jpg" width="199" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Author:</b>&nbsp; <a href="http://larissaione.com/blog/bio/">Larissa Ione </a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Narrator:</b>&nbsp; <a href="http://www.hillaryhuber.com/">Hillary Huber</a><b> - <span style="color: #660000;">3.5 out of 5</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Length:</b>&nbsp; 12:33, purchased on <a href="http://www.audible.com/pd?asin=B004VFZLOU">audible</a>&nbsp; </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Summary: </b></div><div class="MsoNormal">You know this story, or so you think.&nbsp; The Bible and the Demonica predict the way the world will end, but the end is not yet certain.&nbsp; The fate of mankind rests upon the shoulders of the four horsemen.&nbsp; Ares, war. His brother, <span class="readable">Thanatos</span>, death.&nbsp; Their sister, Limos, famine.&nbsp; They are half succubus and half angel, cursed to be the heralds of the end of days.&nbsp; So long as they do not succumb to evil, so long as their seals remain whole, this world has a chance. These siblings fight to hold off the Apocalypse after the seal of their brother, <span class="readable">Reseph, is broken.&nbsp; Now called p</span>estilence, Reseph, beyond redemption, is determined to break Ares’s seal.&nbsp; All he has to do is kill the seal-bearer, for if two seals break, so shall the rest. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">Enter Cara Thornhart, a human with the gift to heal sick animals.&nbsp; Just her luck that one night, a hellhound pup with a silver bullet wound is dropped off on her door step.&nbsp; In a classic case of no good deed goes unpunished, Cara saves the puppy which makes the so-called good guys torture her after they assume she’s a demon.&nbsp; Ultimately, saving the pup gets Cara cursed to be Ares’s seal-bearer, which makes her the target of Pestilence and every demon itching for the end of the world.&nbsp; It is also a slow but inevitable death-sentence as the seal was never meant to be housed in a human body. &nbsp;As soon as Cara dies so will the rest of the world. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowFullScreen='true' webkitallowfullscreen='true' mozallowfullscreen='true' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/vBfhOxyPnA0?feature=player_embedded' FRAMEBORDER='0' /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Surprisingly Good Sappy/Badass Romance:</b></div><div class="MsoNormal">I have a strict NST [no shit-talking] policy, see FAQ below, and therefore many of the audiobooks I listen to never get reviewed. Without naming names or pointing fingers, I can safely say that half of the audiobooks I refuse to review fall under the category of the-biggest-most-badass-preternatural-mofo-ever-who’d-kill-you-for-a-dollar-falls-for-innocent-helpless-blond-because-she-just-that-pretty-so-hard-it’s-twilight-and-then-they-have-lots-and-lots-of-sex. &nbsp;Frankly, I can willfully suspend my disbelief in werewolves, demons, zombies, witches, fairies and vampires, but any scenario where a sociopath who, by falling for Barbie, turns into Ken, is just too saccharine for me to swallow. &nbsp;However, much like with <i>Twilight</i>, so many people went crazy over <i>Eternal Rider</i> that I bought the audiobook fully intending to give it a listen and forget about it. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">I was pleasantly surprised.&nbsp; Don’t get me wrong – this book fits squarely in the-biggest-most-badass-preternatural-mofo-ever-who’d-kill-you-for-a-dollar-falls-for-innocent-helpless-blond-because-she-just-that-pretty-so-hard-it’s-twilight-and-then-they-have-lots-and-lots-of-sex category. Don’t believe me? Just listen to the intro then skip to the epilogue. Told yah. &nbsp;But it worked for me because the main story is about something bigger than boy (or rather immortal harbinger of death) meets girl. The fate of the world is at stake, and Ares and Cara, their feelings and issues, are on the sidelines.&nbsp; There’s also plenty of action, the narration moving in third-person over the deeds of the good, the bad, and the ugly, as the big players take sides in the coming Celestial battle.&nbsp; I was particularly impressed by how appealing Cara was.&nbsp; She’s definitely an ingénue – innocent, sweet, only two previous long-term lovers, strictly missionary, you get the picture.&nbsp; But we are introduced to Cara while she is saving the life of the ugliest mutt known to man, and her selflessness comes across not only as genuine but as active rather than passive. She is proactively good. &nbsp;I also want to praise Larissa Ione like I should for the way she described Ares’s emotions.&nbsp; Describing the badass male’s point of view when he’s falling for a girl is usually what makes me put down the audiobook and reach for a spoon on which to gag. Never happened with <i>Eternal Rider</i>. Larissa Ione manages to maintain the integrity of Ares as the epitome of war while getting across how hard he fell for Cara.&nbsp; There are lines in this audiobook that basically state, “was he developing a crush, he wondered?&nbsp; Man, he needed to go kill something.” It’s enough to hint at attraction while bringing back that chocking amount of testosterone the badass male is supposed to have that makes the listener smile. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">So why only a 3?&nbsp; I had issues with the ending. There was so much build up, so many lives at stake, so many ways that a happy ending seemed absolutely impossible throughout this audiobook.&nbsp; I reveled in that tension, paying close attention to any possible foreshadowing in the supporting characters and small details that could unravel that mystery.&nbsp; I even came up with a few scenarios on how the story could work out, but in none of these scenarios could there be a happy ending on all counts. It seemed downright impossible.&nbsp; And then – puff - a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deus_ex_machina"><i>deus ex machina</i></a>, and quite literally.&nbsp; In no way could a listener have possibly foreseen the ending, and when audiobooks end like that I feel - well, happy, sure, everyone loves a happy ending, but I also feel a bit cheated.&nbsp;&nbsp;</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PzdEP9NZsnw/Ta0LhISGJXI/AAAAAAAAAG4/8fwvWe1GNkY/s1600/EternalRiderUK-323x500.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PzdEP9NZsnw/Ta0LhISGJXI/AAAAAAAAAG4/8fwvWe1GNkY/s320/EternalRiderUK-323x500.jpg" width="206" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>On Narration</b>: </div><div class="MsoNormal">Hillary Huber’s voice is rather soft but still mature and age-appropriate.&nbsp; Her reading of the sex scenes was well done and her male voices are believable enough not to take away from the story.&nbsp; I enjoyed her reading of Limos, who sounds like a California surfer girl and from Larissa Ione’s descriptions that seems very accurate. The only thing I didn’t quite like was that the general narrative voice from Cara's point of view, which I think was supposed to sound shocked but came off sounding a little bit bored. </div><span id="goog_1661428687"></span><span id="goog_1661428688"></span>http://literaryurbanfantasyreview.blogspot.com/2011/04/eternal-rider-lords-of-deliverance-book.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Dharma Kurlind)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5236303228316094966.post-6404743738144284716Sun, 10 Apr 2011 03:17:00 +00002011-04-09T23:17:29.004-04:00Grave Peril – The Dresden Files series, Book 3<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-kx0D4bITwuo/TaEeplsyAZI/AAAAAAAAAGc/x3ghBIdl2ms/s1600/Cover+-+Grave+Peril.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-kx0D4bITwuo/TaEeplsyAZI/AAAAAAAAAGc/x3ghBIdl2ms/s320/Cover+-+Grave+Peril.jpg" width="203" /></a></div><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:PunctuationKerning/> <w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/> <w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables/> <w:SnapToGridInCell/> <w:WrapTextWithPunct/> <w:UseAsianBreakRules/> <w:DontGrowAutofit/> </w:Compatibility> <w:BrowserLevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" LatentStyleCount="156"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} </style> <![endif]--> <br /><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-TGIPL_KsA3E/TaEfAEEyDwI/AAAAAAAAAGg/zZhEpxwtq04/s1600/Cover+-+Grave+Peril2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-TGIPL_KsA3E/TaEfAEEyDwI/AAAAAAAAAGg/zZhEpxwtq04/s320/Cover+-+Grave+Peril2.jpg" width="193" /></a><b>Books:</b></div><div class="MsoNormal">1.<span>&nbsp; </span><i>Storm Front</i> <span>&nbsp;</span>(July 2002) </div><div class="MsoNormal">2.<span>&nbsp; </span><i>Fool Moon</i> <span>&nbsp;</span>(April 2003) </div><div class="MsoNormal">3.<span>&nbsp; </span><i>Grave Peril</i> <span>&nbsp;</span>(July 2005) <b style="color: #660000;">– 4 out of 5</b></div><div class="MsoNormal">4.<span>&nbsp; </span><i>Summer Knight</i> <span>&nbsp;</span>(March 2007)</div><div class="MsoNormal">5.<span>&nbsp; </span><i>Death Masks</i> <span>&nbsp;</span>(October 2009) </div><div class="MsoNormal">6.<span>&nbsp; </span><i>Blood Rites</i> <span>&nbsp;</span>(April 2010)</div><div class="MsoNormal">7.<span>&nbsp; </span><i>Dead Beat</i> <span>&nbsp;</span>(April 2010)</div><div class="MsoNormal">8.<span>&nbsp; </span><i>Proven Guilty</i> <span>&nbsp;</span>(April 2009)</div><div class="MsoNormal">9.<span>&nbsp; </span><i>White Night</i><span>&nbsp; </span>(April 2009)</div><div class="MsoNormal">10.<span>&nbsp; </span><i>Small Favor</i> <span>&nbsp;</span>(April 2008) </div><div class="MsoNormal">11.<span>&nbsp; </span><i>Turn Coat</i> <span>&nbsp;</span>(April 2009) </div><div class="MsoNormal">12.<span>&nbsp; </span><i>Changes <span>&nbsp;</span></i>(April 2010) </div><div class="MsoNormal">13.<span>&nbsp; </span><i>Ghost Story</i> <span>&nbsp;</span>(July 2011)</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:PunctuationKerning/> <w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/> <w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables/> <w:SnapToGridInCell/> <w:WrapTextWithPunct/> <w:UseAsianBreakRules/> <w:DontGrowAutofit/> </w:Compatibility> <w:BrowserLevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" LatentStyleCount="156"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} </style> <![endif]--> </div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Author: </b><span>&nbsp;</span><a href="http://www.jim-butcher.com/">Jim Butcher </a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Narrator:<span>&nbsp; </span></b><a href="http://www.jamesmarsters.com/james/bio.html%20">James Marsters</a><span> </span><b style="color: #660000;">– 5 out of 5</b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Length:</b> 11:59, purchased on <a href="http://www.audible.com/pd?asin=B002V8MMPU">audible</a>&nbsp;</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Summary:</b></div><div class="MsoNormal">In the Chicago Yellow Pages, there is only one entry under “Wizard.” <span>&nbsp;</span>If you lost something, need a ghost removed, or a charm to ward of bad spirits, you can call Harry Dresden. No love potions, please. Most people in Chicago think Harry is a joke, but most people in Chicago don’t know that they walk among werewolves, vampires, the fae, as well as witches, wizards, and ghosts. Those people also don’t know that most of Harry’s paycheck comes from his contract with the police, keeping the people of Chicago safe from the supernatural.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div>Taking place a year after <i>Fool Moon</i>, book 2, Harry and Michael Carpenter, a Christian knight, have been running ragged all over town, banishing an unusual increase of harmful ghosts that are invading Chicago from the Nevernever at an alarming rate.<span>&nbsp; </span>While he’s busy trying to keep Chicago safe, Harry must also keep himself safe from the two women who want him most. <span>&nbsp;</span>One woman wants Harry alive.<span>&nbsp; </span>Dresden’s godmother, the faerie Leanansidhe, wants Harry to finally fulfill a pact he entered long ago to serve her in return for her giving him enough power to escape his prior mentor.<span>&nbsp; </span>Lean is determined to have Harry for a hellbound. The other woman wants Harry dead. <span>&nbsp;</span>Bianca St. Claire, a vampire who runs a bordello and has been promoted to the head of the Red Court, blames Harry for the death of her friend and human servant. <span>&nbsp;</span>In <i>Storm Front</i>, Harry protected himself from Bianca by attacking her with a handkerchief filled with sunshine.<span>&nbsp; </span>The attack injured Bianca so badly, she ended up feeding on her friend until she died.<span>&nbsp; </span>Bianca is determined that Harry pay.<br /><div class="MsoNormal"> <span>&nbsp;</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-TFOBAHVwHEE/TaEfJbVnokI/AAAAAAAAAGk/43r1bu6bXNw/s1600/Grave+Peril.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-TFOBAHVwHEE/TaEfJbVnokI/AAAAAAAAAGk/43r1bu6bXNw/s320/Grave+Peril.jpg" width="202" /></a></div><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:PunctuationKerning/> <w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/> <w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables/> <w:SnapToGridInCell/> <w:WrapTextWithPunct/> <w:UseAsianBreakRules/> <w:DontGrowAutofit/> </w:Compatibility> <w:BrowserLevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" LatentStyleCount="156"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} </style> <![endif]--> <div class="MsoNormal"><b>Harry Potter all grown up:</b></div><div class="MsoNormal">You have to love Harry Dresden, the wizard.<span>&nbsp; </span>He can make fire with his fingers, fling off bullets with a word, and make ghost dust from depleted uranium so Michael, the templar knight with a sword made from a nail off The Cross, can dispatch the ghost back to Nevernever. This audiobook opens up with a forward by Jim Butcher, in which he references that many consider <i>Grave Peril</i> to be a turning point in the Dresden Files. This is so true. I enjoyed <i>Storm Front</i>, but I wasn’t blown away by it.<span>&nbsp; </span>I had felt that the characters were archetypes, including Susan Rodriguez, who was set up in that first book as the future love interest.<span>&nbsp; </span>Her character – and the relationship between her and Harry – deepens in this audiobook. <span>&nbsp;</span>The interesting part about this audiobook is its lack of focus.<span>&nbsp; </span><i>Storm Front</i> was vampires.<span>&nbsp; </span><i>Full moon</i> was werewolves.<span>&nbsp; </span><i>Grave Peril</i> was supposed to be about ghosts, but it also concentrates on the vampires and introduces the fae. This audiobook sets up the rest of the conflicts extrapolated in the Dresden Files series, and you can really see that in the ending with Harry and Susan. <span>&nbsp;</span>Of course, the best part of <i>Grave Peril</i> is what draws all reader and listeners to the Dresden files: Jim Butcher’s unique and engaging voice.<span>&nbsp; </span>He has such fantastic descriptions, like when Harry watches Michael interact with his wife, and describes himself feeling like a “hungry orphan in a Dickens novel,” looking at something he can never have. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-rz3_oUxDm7E/TaEfTkOZxaI/AAAAAAAAAGo/PlNbtS5TW3M/s1600/Grave+Peril+by+Jim+Butcher1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-rz3_oUxDm7E/TaEfTkOZxaI/AAAAAAAAAGo/PlNbtS5TW3M/s1600/Grave+Peril+by+Jim+Butcher1.jpg" /><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:PunctuationKerning/> <w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/> <w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables/> <w:SnapToGridInCell/> <w:WrapTextWithPunct/> <w:UseAsianBreakRules/> <w:DontGrowAutofit/> </w:Compatibility> <w:BrowserLevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" LatentStyleCount="156"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} </style> <![endif]--> </a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>On Narration:</b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://www.jamesmarsters.com/james/bio.html%20">James Marsters</a> does not do voices. He’s a storyteller, but he’s no <a href="http://www.loreleiking.com/%20">Lorelei King</a>, <a href="http://cynthiaholloway.com/">Cynthia Holloway</a>,&nbsp;<span></span>or <a href="http://www.taviagilbert.com/">Tavia Gilbert</a>, who give you consistent characters with specific and recognizable voices that become part and parcel of the characters’ identities to the listeners.<span>&nbsp; </span>James Marsters has only three voices: (1) male – the voice for basically every character; (2) slightly British male – the male voice with a vaguely English accent for Bob, the ghost, and Thomas, the Vampire; and (3) female – the male voice, but softer and quiet. So why do I rate Marsters 5 out of 5? <span>&nbsp;</span>No, it is not because he played Spike on <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0118276/"><i>Buffy, the Vampire Slayer</i></a>.&nbsp;<span></span>It’s his style in reading that really brings the Dresden Files to life.<span>&nbsp; </span>Sure, his lack of voices makes figuring out what’s internal and what’s external when it comes to dialogue hell, but he has such a perfect, raspy, <i>film noir</i> way of reading these paranormal mysteries that not only works but connects the purpose of the audiobook to the listener.<span>&nbsp; </span>For example, <i>Grave Peril</i> starts out with a rather frightening scene where a ghost is about to kill a nursery full of babies in a hospital.<span>&nbsp; </span>James Marsters’s reading is down-right haunting.<span>&nbsp; </span>When the ghost starts losing it, remembering her death, and recalling the axe she used to dispatch her abusive husband, I had goosebumps on my arms.<span>&nbsp; </span>Also, his lack of a “female” voice – that is, pitching his voice high to make it sound girly and instead choosing to read in his normal voice but at a quieter tone – works great.<span>&nbsp; </span>Frankly, when men do “female” voices, I usually wind up giggling, which works fine with comedies, but with thrillers, not so much.</div>http://literaryurbanfantasyreview.blogspot.com/2011/04/grave-peril-dresden-files-series-book-3.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Dharma Kurlind)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5236303228316094966.post-4090704250239322136Sun, 03 Apr 2011 05:09:00 +00002011-04-03T10:23:49.989-04:00Amanda RonciniMolly HarperWerewolvesThe Art of Seducing a Naked Werewolf – Naked Werewolf Series, book 2<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-woDg9nfdHeU/TZf8goEzsBI/AAAAAAAAAGQ/qcSH9ICaWDM/s1600/naked+werewolf+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-woDg9nfdHeU/TZf8goEzsBI/AAAAAAAAAGQ/qcSH9ICaWDM/s320/naked+werewolf+2.jpg" width="194" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #eeeeee;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><i>"Insert awkward pause in which I stare at Nick as if he's whistling 'Oh, Canada' out of one nostril."</i></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><b>Books: </b><i>&nbsp; </i><br />1.&nbsp;&nbsp; <i><a href="http://literaryurbanfantasyreview.blogspot.com/2011/02/how-to-flirt-with-naked-werewolf.html">How to Flirt with a Naked Werewolf</a>&nbsp;</i><b> </b>(February 22, 2011)&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; –<span style="color: #660000;"><b> 4 out of 5</b></span><i>&nbsp;</i><br /><br />2.&nbsp;&nbsp; <i>The Art of Seducing a Naked Werewolf&nbsp;</i><b> </b>(March 29, 2011)&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; –<b><span style="color: #660000;"> 4.5 out of 5</span></b><br /><br /><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Author:</b>&nbsp; <a href="http://www.mollyharper.com/">Molly Harper</a> </div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Narrator: </b>&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2525034/">Amanda Roncini</a><span style="color: #660000;"> - <b>4 out of 5</b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #660000;"></span><b>Length:</b> 8:04, purchased on <a href="http://www.audible.com/pd?asin=B004TKBM4A">audible</a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Summary</b>:&nbsp;&nbsp;</div><div class="MsoNormal"></div><div class="MsoNormal">At the end of <a href="http://literaryurbanfantasyreview.blogspot.com/2011/02/how-to-flirt-with-naked-werewolf.html"><i>How to Flirt with a Naked Werewolf</i></a>,<b> </b>Maggie Graham, a young female werewolf, has finally received the recognition she so richly deserved after dispatching the conniving Alpha-apparent, Eli, and after her older bigger brother, Cooper, settled down with a thoroughly human Mo to have a human family in Grundy, Alaska.&nbsp; Now, Maggie is the pack alpha of the Crescent Valley werewolves – the sheriff of this-here town. &nbsp;Unfortunately, too many of the more traditional wolves are waiting for Maggie to find a big bad wolf for a mate to take over that sheriff role. &nbsp;With furry suitors knocking down Maggie’s door, the last thing she needs is Nick Thatcher, a sexy <span class="readable">zoological anthropologist </span>who’s convinced that werewolves exist, and what’s more, that they exist in Grundy. Maggie tries to make Nick go away.&nbsp; Instead, she gets closer to him than she ever meant to.&nbsp; Even worse, after Nick arrives, it appears that someone is trying to kill Maggie and attack her packmates.&nbsp; Can she carry on a romance with a human, protect her pack, and still maintain her alphahood?</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowFullScreen='true' webkitallowfullscreen='true' mozallowfullscreen='true' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/eyHG5546Xa4?feature=player_embedded' FRAMEBORDER='0' /></div><div class="MsoNormal"></div><div class="MsoNormal"></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>True Comedic Pack Mysteries:</b></div><div class="MsoNormal"></div><div class="MsoNormal">It’s no secret that I love Molly Harper, as noted by the short interview posted <a href="http://literaryurbanfantasyreview.blogspot.com/2011/02/penny-for-molly-harpers-thoughts.html">here</a>. Her writing is snarky, funny, witty, and a joy to sit back and listen to.&nbsp; I was a bit worried about the book being from Maggie’s point of view as Maggie comes off as a rather flat hard-ass character in <i>How to Flirt</i>, but fifteen minutes into the audiobook, I knew I was not going to be disappointed. &nbsp;</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">This book paces better than <i>How to Flirt</i>. We understand the main conflict immediately, and Nick enters Maggie's life almost from the first part of the audiobook.&nbsp; And then there’s Nick himself – a tall, sexy, educated, blond-haired, blue-eyed, bearded Viking look alike (mentally, I pictured <a href="http://theloveumake.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/Sons_Of_Anarchy_313_0007-600x337.jpg">Jax Teller</a>&nbsp;from <a href="http://www.fxnetworks.com/shows/originals/soa/">Sons of Anarchy</a>,&nbsp;but with glasses).** A multimillionaire, self-hating <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trekkie">Trekkie</a> with family issues of his own, and a passion for werewolves. I would never think someone like that would appeal to someone like Maggie, but then again, who would imagine Mo and Cooper hitting it off so well in the prior book?&nbsp; <span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;; font-size: 12pt;"> </span> </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">Another thing this book had on <i>How to Flirt</i> is a few good mysteries, which is not something I expect from this author – she’s hilarious, so I read for the comedy (and there’s plenty) but not for the twists and turns.&nbsp; This audiobook contains at least two “Oh!” moments.&nbsp; That’s when the audiobook presents enough suspects with enough motives that you don’t see it coming, but there is also enough foreshadowing specific to the perpetrator that you kind of should have.&nbsp; The result is that when the book lets the cat out of the bag, you actually, audibly, say “Oh!”&nbsp;</div><br /><blockquote><span style="color: #eeeeee; font-size: large;"><b><i>"Never underestimate the excitement of sex with the crazy," Sampson said, wincing when Mo smacked the back of his head. "It's like a tilt-a-whirl and a scary movie all in one."</i></b></span><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;; font-size: 12pt;"> </span></blockquote><br /><div class="MsoNormal"></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>On Narration: </b></div><div class="MsoNormal">All of Molly Harper’s audiobooks, including this one, are narrated by Amanda Roncini.&nbsp; Her voice is perfect for the part.&nbsp; It’s bratty, snarky, and bit tom-boyish even. It should reminds me of Amanda Roncini’s reading of Mo, in <i>How to Flirt with a Werewolf</i>, which I reviewed <a href="http://literaryurbanfantasyreview.blogspot.com/2011/02/penny-for-molly-harpers-thoughts.html">here</a>, but I think I didn’t give her enough credit.&nbsp; It’s not just that she reads the story with great snark.&nbsp; She knows how to read comedy, how to carry punch lines so they hit home.<br /><br />**&nbsp; UPDATE:&nbsp; Thanks to Twitter, Molly Harper informed me that Charlie Hunnam, the actor who plays Jax Teller on Sons of Anarchy, is actually who she based Nick's physical description on!</div>http://literaryurbanfantasyreview.blogspot.com/2011/04/art-of-seducing-naked-werewolf-naked.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Dharma Kurlind)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5236303228316094966.post-8135580495590286196Fri, 01 Apr 2011 02:31:00 +00002011-03-31T22:49:16.294-04:00Larry CorreiaMonster Hunter InternationalMonstersOliver WymanOwen Z. PittMonster Hunter International - MHI series, Book 1<div class="separator" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-HvNEydFVKuM/TZUymdRHFXI/AAAAAAAAAGA/rkuhd_DCHxs/s320/MHI.jpg" width="210" /></div><br /><blockquote><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #eeeeee;"><b><i><span style="font-size: large;">Why can't we ever fight cute, helpless monsters, like the ones on Sesame Street?"</span></i></b></div></blockquote><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Books</b>: </div><div class="MsoNormal">1. <i>Monster Hunter International</i> (March 15, 2011)–<b style="color: #660000;">4 out of 5</b></div><div class="MsoNormal">2. <i>Monster Hunter Vendetta</i> (March 15, 2011)</div><div class="MsoNormal">3. <i>Monster Hunter Alpha</i> (August, 2011)</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Author:</b> <a href="http://larrycorreia.wordpress.com/about/">Larry Correia</a><b style="color: #660000;"></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Narrator:</b> &nbsp;<a href="http://www.audiofilemagazine.com/gvpages/a2077.shtml">Oliver Wyman</a> – <b style="color: #660000;">4 out of 5</b> </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Length: </b>23:35, purchased on <a href="http://www.audible.com/pd?asin=B004RGQ6UQ">audible</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Summary:</b></div><div class="MsoNormal"></div><div class="MsoNormal">Owen “Z” Pitt is not your average 24-year-old accountant from Texas.&nbsp; He’s a giant of a man, speaks five languages, a marksman, a genius, and paid his way through college by fighting in illegal underground rings a la <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0137523/%20%20"><i>Fight Club</i></a>. &nbsp;He was trained by his war hero father to use every sort of firearm ever since he could walk.&nbsp; “Glock” may have been his first word. All that gun love paid off when one full moon while working late, Owen got attacked by his werewolf boss, who Owen managed to shove him out of a fourteenth story window.&nbsp; Now, without a job, with scars he can’t explain, and with the government threatening to kill him if he talks, what’s a gun-totting, scar-faced pencil-pusher to do?</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">Then comes a $50,000.00 check from a government fund for dispatching the werewolf, and a strange job offer from Monster Hunter International, a paramilitary family business, established in 1895 by gun-loving rednecks in Alabama. They don’t just go after werewolves, but vampires, zombies and every video-game monster target you can think of.&nbsp; Thanks to the government-sponsored PUF fund that pays bounty checks for dispatching such unfavorables, it turns out to be quite a lucrative business.&nbsp; It helps that the job offer came from Julie Shackleford, the MHI boss's granddaughter, who reduces the big man to the social skills of an 8<sup>th</sup> grader.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zRI9NiWpa8w/TZU0gUulNTI/AAAAAAAAAGE/mpH_7Cn5fOs/s1600/51nEGb9WNjL._SL500_AA300_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zRI9NiWpa8w/TZU0gUulNTI/AAAAAAAAAGE/mpH_7Cn5fOs/s1600/51nEGb9WNjL._SL500_AA300_.jpg" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><blockquote style="color: #eeeeee;"><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size: large;"><i>&nbsp;"My heart went out to her. Her home was burning down, and her undead mother was intent on drinking her blood. It was a really crappy evening by any standard."</i></span></b></div></blockquote><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Killin’s my business and business is fine.</b></div><div class="MsoNormal"></div><div class="MsoNormal">Where has all that <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H._P._Lovecraft">Lovecraft</a> gone?&nbsp;It’s here, in <i>Monster Hunter International</i>.<i> </i>We don’t just have the usual monster, but monsters of impossible, mind-bending proportions.&nbsp; The main villain, the “Cursed One,” is not just a <i>mwahaha</i> villain (although, I assure you, C.O. has that market cornered). Larry Correia also lets us inside C.O’s head through his memories in Owen’s ghost-guided dream/nightmares that recall C.O.’s journey from a “mean son-of-a-bitch” conquistador to one very megalomaniacal, unearthly, tentacled, flesh-wriggling being who is intent of stopping time itself. Other monsters were really fascinating as well, but this audiobook is long, and a substantial part of it is spent on describing fights were almost every single villain, and some heros, get killed and regenerate everything back at least twice. That makes for very long scenes.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">And the hero?&nbsp; I think I’m in love. He’s giant. And a gun nut. And an accountant.&nbsp; If he’s willing to convert to Judaism, I call dibs. Owen Pitt is inherently epic – like Karen Marie Moning's <a href="http://www.karenmoning.com/kmm/novels.html">Mac</a> and the amulet. My only criticism here is that it’s really hard to let the listener know how epic Owen is through first-person narration without it sounding over-the-top or silly.&nbsp; Like when a master vampire tells Owen he has the strongest will of any mortal she’s ever met, or when one guys says to the other that he shouldn’t mess with Owen because he has “one hundred pounds of muscle” on him. Or worse yet, when Julie reads his file and we find out Owen’s a marksman/genius.&nbsp; It rang silly for me – like Stephen Colbert’s <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tek_Jansen">Tek Jansen</a>, who’s so cool he must have had “hundreds of girlfriends."</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">Is this book cliché?&nbsp; Yes, in the best way possible. &nbsp;It's like 1 part monsterish gore, 1 part comedy, and 1 part all sorts of artillery. It's like <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0425112/"><i>Hot Fuzz</i></a> is cliché, where it is obvious and downright appealing. Guns aside, the best cliché is the boy meets girl connection. Not to give anything away, but Owen falls for Julie pretty hard.&nbsp; He has a thing for smart gun-totting chicks with glasses, since he’s a scar-faced gun-totter and therefore is attracted to girls with impaired vision. The two have a very middle-school, pg-13 tops, romance, and it totally satisfies that giggling school girl in me.&nbsp;</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ALDyvuke98c/TZU46g5hHoI/AAAAAAAAAGI/0eEGO8LcK08/s1600/mhi-patch.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ALDyvuke98c/TZU46g5hHoI/AAAAAAAAAGI/0eEGO8LcK08/s200/mhi-patch.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"></div><div class="MsoNormal">&nbsp;<b>On Narration:</b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://www.audiofilemagazine.com/gvpages/a2077.shtml">Oliver Wyman</a> is great.&nbsp; This is the first time I heard him read, and his style is perfect for <i>Monster Hunter International</i>.&nbsp; He has a rather macho tone with just a bit of immaturity, and again, the term “epic” comes to mind to describe his style. His reading of female voices didn’t make me burst out laughing, which is what usually happens when I listen to male narrators read girls’ voices. &nbsp;The only thing that jarred me was how seriously Oliver Wyman took those vocal direction. I usually comment on whether narrators do a good or bad job at distinguishing internal monologue with external speak when audiobooks are in first-person, like this one.&nbsp; The listener has no problem with distinguishing the two in <i>Monster Hunter International</i>, because Oliver Wyman reads the directions in a rather calm soft voice, while reading the actual words with the proper emphasis, instead of splitting the two. So, it’s something like, [<i>sotto voce</i> – ‘<span style="font-size: x-small;">My arm snapped. It hurt like a bitch</span>.] <span style="font-size: large;"><b>“AGH! THAT HURTS!!!!”</b></span> <span style="font-size: x-small;">[<i>sotto voce</i> – ‘I screamed’]</span> &nbsp;I jumped at least a few times from the dissonance between the internal and the external readings.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><span id="goog_102099772"><span id="goog_632040188"></span><span id="goog_632040189"></span></span><span id="goog_102099773"></span>http://literaryurbanfantasyreview.blogspot.com/2011/03/monster-hunter-international-mhi-series.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Dharma Kurlind)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5236303228316094966.post-2490682861905674534Mon, 28 Mar 2011 02:49:00 +00002011-03-27T22:49:14.288-04:00Audacious – the Kris Longknife series, Book 5<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:PunctuationKerning/> <w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/> <w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables/> <w:SnapToGridInCell/> <w:WrapTextWithPunct/> <w:UseAsianBreakRules/> <w:DontGrowAutofit/> </w:Compatibility> <w:BrowserLevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" LatentStyleCount="156"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} </style> <![endif]--> <div class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-msrq0skPQ8g/TY_z6i-RhjI/AAAAAAAAAF4/1g0GDjq6bqw/s1600/Audacious_Kris_Longknife.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-msrq0skPQ8g/TY_z6i-RhjI/AAAAAAAAAF4/1g0GDjq6bqw/s320/Audacious_Kris_Longknife.jpg" width="197" /></a><b>Books:</b></div><ol start="1" type="1"><li class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://literaryurbanfantasyreview.blogspot.com/2011/03/mutineer-kris-longknife-series-book-1.html"><i>Mutineer</i></a> (May 22, 2009) – <b><span style="color: #660000;">3 out of 5<span>&nbsp;&nbsp;</span> </span></b></li><li class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://literaryurbanfantasyreview.blogspot.com/2011/03/deserter-kris-longknife-series-book-2.html"><i>Deserter</i></a> (May 22, 2009) – <b><span style="color: #660000;">4.5 out of 5&nbsp; </span></b></li><li class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://literaryurbanfantasyreview.blogspot.com/2011/03/defiant-kris-longknife-series-book-3.html"><i>Defiant</i></a> (May 22, 2009) – <b><span style="color: #660000;">4 out of 5<span>&nbsp;&nbsp;</span> </span></b></li><li class="MsoNormal"><i>Resolute</i> (July 28, 2009)</li><li class="MsoNormal"><i>Audacious</i> (July 28, 2009) – <b style="color: #660000;">4 out of 5</b></li><li class="MsoNormal"><i>Intrepid</i> (July 28, 2009)</li><li class="MsoNormal"><i>Undaunted</i> (October 27, 2009)</li><li class="MsoNormal"><i>Redoubtable</i> (February 1, 2011)</li></ol><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Author:</b> <a href="http://www.blogger.com/goog_2037125641">Mike Shepherd</a><a href="http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/s/mike-shepherd/">&nbsp; </a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Narrator:</b> <a href="http://headshotsusa.com/dinapearlman/">Dina Pearlman</a>&nbsp; – <b><span style="color: #660000;">4 out of 5&nbsp;</span> </b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Length:</b> 12:41 hours, purchased on <a href="http://www.audible.com/pd?asin=B002V1NQDO">audible</a><span>&nbsp;</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:PunctuationKerning/> <w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/> <w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables/> <w:SnapToGridInCell/> <w:WrapTextWithPunct/> <w:UseAsianBreakRules/> <w:DontGrowAutofit/> </w:Compatibility> <w:BrowserLevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" LatentStyleCount="156"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} </style> <![endif]--> </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Summary:</b></div><div class="MsoNormal">At the end of <i>Resolute</i>,<i> </i>the Navy is done trying to keep Kris Longknife, a princess and a Navy lieutenant, on active ship duty.<span>&nbsp; </span>Not after Kris removed a war-hawk, maverick commanding officer in <i>Mutineer</i>, and inspired a class-based revolution on Turantic in <i>Deserter</i>, on Hikila in <i>Defiant</i>, and on Last Chance in <i>Resolute</i>.<span>&nbsp; </span>It isn’t only that no commanding officer wants that sort of a subordinate.<span>&nbsp; </span>At the end of <i>Resolute</i>, Hank Peterwald the 13<sup>th</sup>, the son of the Longknife’s arch enemy and greatest political competitor, died after a direct confrontation with Kris, and now the assassination attempts are up.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">In the beginning of <i>Audacious</i>, Kris’s mission is to buy paperweights and similar supplies on the safest, most evolved, civilized planet in the universe, New Eden. So what is Victoria Peterwald, Hank’s twin sister, doing there?<span>&nbsp; </span>No sooner does Kris land on New Eden then Vicky tries to kill her, and it becomes obvious that not all is well on the economically advanced planet.<span>&nbsp; </span>For Kris to legally carry her firearms, she needs to document at least three assassination attempts with the police, and even then, they seem hesitant to let her or her entourage of marines to carry.<span>&nbsp; </span>Even more interesting, ever assassination attempt is swept under the rug, and all involved are reported by the news to have died in skiing accidents.<span>&nbsp; </span>While investigating the short-leashed media, Kris discovers that only those descended from the first freemen to arrive on Eden have the right to vote.<span>&nbsp; </span>Others, either immigrant or who descended from indentured servants, have no representation even though they are citizens who work as police officers, teachers, etc. It doesn’t take long for Kris to realize that the status quo government fears she will lead another class-based revolution and has no qualms with her leaving New Eden, even if it's feet first.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowFullScreen='true' webkitallowfullscreen='true' mozallowfullscreen='true' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/CtorKpNdoqo?feature=player_embedded' FRAMEBORDER='0' /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:PunctuationKerning/> <w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/> <w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables/> <w:SnapToGridInCell/> <w:WrapTextWithPunct/> <w:UseAsianBreakRules/> <w:DontGrowAutofit/> </w:Compatibility> <w:BrowserLevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" LatentStyleCount="156"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} </style> <![endif]--> </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Ode to the first two Amendments</b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><i>Audacious </i>goes back to the wonderful military feel of the original <i>Mutineer</i>.<i> </i>I know not whether Mike Shepherd is politically conservative or liberal, but <i>Audacious</i> can be read as a cautionary tale for any society that considers itself evolved and safe simply because it is technologically advanced. <span>&nbsp;</span>The major conflict of New Eden, without a doubt, is its lack of suffrage for all citizens, but the reason why living on New Eden is unsafe boils down to a lack of the first two amendments. There is a lack of free press, and the powerful pay dearly to keep the media ignorant of any crimes.<span>&nbsp; </span>This includes a scene toward the end of the audiobook where Kris has to threaten the life of an official to get medical assistance to a battle scene after the police set up a roadblock, more interested in keeping the media back then letting in ambulances to save lives. The second is the right to firearms.<span>&nbsp; </span>New Eden is a “safe” society, where no one, not even the military, should have deadly weapons. The problem is that in New Eden, like in most of our cities, those who operate outside the law already have weapons, leaving the law abiding vulnerable. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:PunctuationKerning/> <w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/> <w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables/> <w:SnapToGridInCell/> <w:WrapTextWithPunct/> <w:UseAsianBreakRules/> <w:DontGrowAutofit/> </w:Compatibility> <w:BrowserLevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" LatentStyleCount="156"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} </style> <![endif]--> <br />As I mentioned, the military is back in this audiobook.<span>&nbsp; </span>There is an inspiring scene where Kris is invited by the marines to jog with them in the morning, but after she is detained by local authorities, a bunch of marines, including one who is injured, join to stand by her.<span>&nbsp; </span>Kris realizes at that moment that, even though she’s Navy, she has been adopted by Corps.<span>&nbsp; </span>Kris’s spine straightens when she realizes that they’re willing to die for her and, in return, she’s willing to die for them.<span>&nbsp; </span>I also enjoyed the scene toward the end of the audiobook when after rendering honors to fallen Marines, Kris and her men leave New Eden to a futuristic rendition of the Marine Corps Hymn.<span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;; font-size: 12pt;"></span><br /><blockquote style="color: #eeeeee;"><blockquote><blockquote><div class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-size: large;"><span>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>From the Halls of Montezuma</span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-size: large;"><span>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>To the shores of Tripoli</span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-size: large;"><span>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>We will fight our country's battles</span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-size: large;"><span>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>On land, space and the sea</span></i></div></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><div class="MsoNormal">This audiobook also gives us a lot more on Abby.<span>&nbsp; </span>We meet her mother, sister, and niece, and get to see the neighborhood on New Eden where she grew up.<span>&nbsp; </span>It explains a lot about her motivation and character, and she even gets a possible love interest in this audiobook.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>On Narration:</b><br />Dina Pearlman’s reading of <i>Audacious</i> reminded me of her reading of <i>Deserter</i>. She was back to a faster pace, the authoritative tone, and the solemnity necessary for war and battle.<span>&nbsp; </span>I miss her Tommy accent, but there were no Irish or Lorna Dune people, so I was out of luck on that count.<span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;; font-size: 12pt;"></span></div><span id="goog_1909047565"></span><span id="goog_1909047566"></span>http://literaryurbanfantasyreview.blogspot.com/2011/03/audacious-kris-longknife-series-book-5.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Dharma Kurlind)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5236303228316094966.post-6456311820454850037Sat, 26 Mar 2011 00:08:00 +00002011-03-25T20:54:01.045-04:00FaeMary Robinette KowalSeanan McGuireRosemary and Rue: An October Daye Novel, Book 1<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-l2V9YJZPFsk/TYwCpMPDQ-I/AAAAAAAAAFo/3vVeoMplDds/s1600/Rosemary+and+Rue+-+Seanan+McGuire.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-l2V9YJZPFsk/TYwCpMPDQ-I/AAAAAAAAAFo/3vVeoMplDds/s320/Rosemary+and+Rue+-+Seanan+McGuire.jpg" width="197" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Books:</b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>&nbsp; </b></div><div class="MsoNormal">1.<i>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Rosemary and Rue</i> (June 8, 2010) - <b><span style="color: #660000;">4 out of 5</span><br /></b>2.&nbsp;&nbsp; <i>A Local Habitation</i> (March 2, 2010)<br />3.&nbsp;&nbsp; <i>An Artificial Night</i> (September 12, 2010)<br />4.&nbsp;&nbsp; <i>Late Eclipses</i> (TBA)<br />5.&nbsp;&nbsp; <i>One Salt Sea</i> (TBA)<br />6.&nbsp;&nbsp; <i>Ashes of Honor</i> (TBA)<br />7.&nbsp;&nbsp; <i>The Chimes at Midnight</i> (TBA)</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b> </b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><br /></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Author:</b>&nbsp; &nbsp;<a href="http://www.seananmcguire.com/">Seanan McGuire</a>&nbsp;&nbsp; </div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Narrator:</b>&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="http://www.blogger.com/goog_1537966455">Mary Robinette Kowal</a><a href="http://www.maryrobinettekowal.com/%20">&nbsp;</a>&nbsp; - <b style="color: #660000;">4 out of 5</b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Length:</b>&nbsp; 11:16, purchased on <a href="http://www.audible.com/pd?asin=B003N40JHE">audible </a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Summary:</b></div><div class="MsoNormal">October “Toby” Daye had it hard growing up.&nbsp; Being a changeling, the daughter of a very powerful fae and a human dad, she was forced to grow up in faery where she was treated as a second-class stepchild while her mother’s grip on her sanity slowly faded from being ripped away from her human husband. It didn’t get easier when Toby moved to the San Francisco area.&nbsp; She tried it as human, finding a husband and having a little girl.&nbsp; Then her job as a knight for the Duke of Shadowed Hills got in the way when the Duke's evil twin cursed Toby into living as a koi for 14 years.&nbsp; Now, with her bounty-hunting business gone, her husband and daughter refusing to speak to her and her human life basically ruined, Toby refuses to have anything to do with her fae life, working as a night-time checkout girl, and living with two cats by herself returning no calls and dreaming that one day her daughter will call her back. And still, Toby can’t catch a break. &nbsp;Before Countess Evening Winterrose is murdered, she forces Toby to find her killer and bring him or her to justice.&nbsp; With no choice to do otherwise, Toby is dragged back into the world of the fae.</div><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Love you more than fairytales:</b>&nbsp;</div><div class="MsoNormal">Once, about a decade ago, I read <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Vogler">Christopher Vogler</a>’s&nbsp;<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Writer%27s_Journey:_Mythic_Structure_for_Writers"><i>The Writer's Journey: Mythic Structure for Writers</i></a>. Maybe a few hours into this audiobook, I was getting flashbacks on <i>The Writer's Journey</i>. The structure of <i>Rosemary and Rue </i>is very formulaic, but for the record, that’s a good thing.&nbsp; All good stories, all interesting plots, have certain features in common. The story, the twist, the archetypes, are all familiar, even mythical.&nbsp; There is a very strong call to action here in the form of a binding – Toby must find the killer or she dies. There’s a mentor or two, and there are the gatekeepers involved. Less Odyssei and more Tobys, I say! &nbsp;Overall, the audiobook presents a great mythical journey set in a modern-day fairy tale.&nbsp; You get gripped from the first of Toby’s mishaps. Although, I have to admit that even though the storyline was very good, I only truly connected with Toby on the second part of the audiobook, after the awesome car scene over the Golden Gate Bridge.</div></div><div class="MsoNormal"><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">The use of fantastic elements in <i>Rosemary and Rue</i> is pretty phenomenal. I’ve mentioned before <a href="http://literaryurbanfantasyreview.blogspot.com/2011/03/river-marked-mercedes-thompson-series.html">here</a> that I enjoy imaginative use of the fantastic in paranormal books, but I particularly enjoyed Seanan McGuire’s take on some of the more interesting fae.&nbsp; For example, the kelpie you meet in the book is fascinating – a large black horse with glowing red eyes that just happens to smell like the sea, and of course have very, very sharp teeth. But what sets this kelpie apart from let’s say <a href="http://www.patriciabriggs.com/">Patricia Briggs</a>’s kelpie in the <a href="http://www.patriciabriggs.com/books">Mercedes Thompson series</a> is that we don’t actually interact with Seanan McGuire’s kelpie.&nbsp; This one is just part of the background of San Francisco’s other world. Oh, and there is nothing cuter than the idea of the rose goblin – a kitty cat covered with rose thrones that rattles them when it gets upset.&nbsp; I, for one, always wished more cats were like porcupines. &nbsp;It’s also nice to see a few more tales, tiger stripes, and fox ears on characters outside of anime. </div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-2-g-iaeoLzo/TY0gODo7hCI/AAAAAAAAAFs/h3PsqKSesI4/s1600/Rose+Goblin.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="251" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-2-g-iaeoLzo/TY0gODo7hCI/AAAAAAAAAFs/h3PsqKSesI4/s320/Rose+Goblin.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Rose Goblin by Alicia "Kat" Dillman<br /><a href="http://darkkitten8.deviantart.com/">http://darkkitten8.deviantart.com/</a> </td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal">However, I had this terrible feeling of sadness throughout the audiobook.&nbsp; I’m hoping that as the journey progresses the listener might get to see Toby return to a more normal world, where she might be reunited with her human family, or find some sort of a happy existence beyond constant nightmares, living alone barely on minimum wage, in fear for her life.&nbsp; Throughout <i>Rosemary and Rue</i>, it seems like the universe is out to kick Toby when she’s down.&nbsp; Even the title itself is a terribly sad reference in the book that you only understand at the very end. </div></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><b>On Narration:</b> </div><div class="MsoNormal">This is the first time I’ve heard <a href="http://www.maryrobinettekowal.com/%20">Mary Robinette Kowal</a> read.&nbsp; She is also the author and narrator of <a href="http://www.audible.com/pd/ref=sr_1_7?asin=B003Y4ZZSQ&amp;qid=1301019707&amp;sr=1-7"><i>Shades of Milk and Honey</i></a>. It was an excellent reading, very appropriate for the character. The narrative voice is light and young-sounding, but with enough of an edge to pass for what I would consider the voice of a half-fairy, tiny, light, bounty-hunting kickass woman.&nbsp; There are a lot of interesting accents, and moments of injury and weariness in the audiobook, and Mary Robinette Kowal’s reading carries the emotion.&nbsp; My only criticism is that some of her more interesting or intricate accents, for Tybalt and Lilly, for example, require her to slow down her reading and enunciate very carefully, which does drag out certain parts.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-jlu2-vvsPpo/TY0gqGWzhQI/AAAAAAAAAFw/VKL9x15WlD0/s1600/a_local_habitation.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="279" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-jlu2-vvsPpo/TY0gqGWzhQI/AAAAAAAAAFw/VKL9x15WlD0/s320/a_local_habitation.jpg" width="320" /></a></div></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Other Comments:</b><br />There are spoilers in this Review.&nbsp; If you have already listened to this audiobook, read the book, or hate surprises, please click/continue below:<br /><a name='more'></a><br /><div class="MsoNormal">Aside from the sadness of Toby’s circumstances, I found Toby to be too-well liked by everybody for no reason I could specifically understand.&nbsp; Now, don’t get me wrong, Toby’s one kick-ass chick, and I was all the way on board and rooting for her after that car scene where she decided if she was going to die, she’d be taking her back-seat assassin with her.&nbsp; Still, I found it hard to accept how many supporting characters seemed to love her.&nbsp; Loved heroines are not new to urban fantasy, but they almost always have some specific distinction that explains away wide-spread adoration aside from the heroine just being really pretty or really awesome.&nbsp; I already mentioned <a href="http://www.patriciabriggs.com/">Patricia Briggs</a>’s <span id="goog_262566835"></span><a href="http://www.blogger.com/">Mercy Thompson<span id="goog_262566836"></span></a>, who’s loved by a few supernaturals because of her status as one of the last remaining coyote skinwalkers, which gives her unique powers and a possibility of easier child-birthing for werewolves.&nbsp; With <a href="http://www.charlaineharris.com/">Charlaine Harris</a>’s famous <a href="http://www.charlaineharris.com/bibliography/bibliog-sookie.html">Sookie Stackhouse</a>, it’s almost ridiculous how many male supernatural characters fall for her until we find out in later audiobooks that she is part fae, which makes her intoxicating - literally attractive to vampires.&nbsp; Every wolf drools over <a href="http://www.kelleyarmstrong.com/%20">Kelley Armstrong</a>’s <a href="http://otherworld.wikia.com/wiki/Elena_Michaels">Elena Michaels</a>&nbsp;because she’s the only female werewolf ever. ‘Nuff said. <a href="http://www.kimharrison.net/">Kim Harrison</a>’s&nbsp;&nbsp; <a href="http://www.kimharrison.net/TheBooks.html">Rachel Morgan</a> gets the same affliction of attracting supernaturals, which we later on find out has to do with her unique blood disease which was fixed and basically makes her a born demon with special powers.&nbsp;&nbsp;</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">At this stage of the series, I'm not seeing what's so special about Toby, except maybe her mother’s ability to ride the blood which she partially inherited.&nbsp; Don’t get me wrong, I understand how Devon, the man who took her virginity and from whom she alone walked away, would be in love with her.&nbsp; How Conner, a childhood crush separated by parents and propriety, would still pine after her.&nbsp; How Sylvester, her lord, who basically became her father after she was taken to faerie as a young child, would love her like a daughter.&nbsp; I even understand Evening’s interest in Toby, as a savior almost like the duped rich people in <a href="http://chuckpalahniuk.net/">Chuck Palahniuk</a>'s <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Choke_%28novel%29%20"><i>Choke</i></a>.&nbsp; However, I’m just not getting enough backstory to understand why Lilly would sacrifice so much for Toby. Or why Luna is so interested in Toby’s welfare. Or why Tybalt seems so protective of her.&nbsp; I’m sure we’ll get more a backstory to explain it in later audiobooks, and maybe I’m just too cynical, but I find it much easier to understand Cliff’s, her human husband’s, reaction – him dropping her call after she goes missing for 14 years – than I understand Lilly’s. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">Also, the fourth book in the series, <i>Late Eclipses</i>, came out on March 1, 2011.&nbsp; However, it is not available in audiobook format.&nbsp; Seanan McGuire explains <a href="http://seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com/328066.html">here</a> that Brilliance Audio has not purchased the rights to the next three books.&nbsp; I second Seanan McGuire that no listener or fan would be doing anyone any favors by nagging Brilliance Audio or obnoxiously demanding that they buy the rights to produce the next three October Daye books, but I also think a <a href="http://www.brillianceaudio.com/links/contact.html">nice and respectful email of inquiry or expression of interest</a> wouldn’t hurt. &nbsp;</div><b></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"></div>http://literaryurbanfantasyreview.blogspot.com/2011/03/rosemary-and-rue-october-daye-novel.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Dharma Kurlind)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5236303228316094966.post-6607888825439469067Wed, 23 Mar 2011 00:16:00 +00002011-03-22T20:16:49.005-04:00Charles LeggettKelley ArmstrongWerewolvesMen of the Otherworld: A Collection of Otherworld Tales<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-yoIE0pXzRkk/TYk6jtmiXcI/AAAAAAAAAFg/c1ZOl6OGHZI/s1600/MtO1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-yoIE0pXzRkk/TYk6jtmiXcI/AAAAAAAAAFg/c1ZOl6OGHZI/s320/MtO1.jpg" width="210" /></a></div><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:PunctuationKerning/> <w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/> <w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables/> <w:SnapToGridInCell/> <w:WrapTextWithPunct/> <w:UseAsianBreakRules/> <w:DontGrowAutofit/> </w:Compatibility> <w:BrowserLevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" LatentStyleCount="156"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} </style> <![endif]--> <div class="MsoNormal"><b>Novellas in Collection – <span style="color: #660000;">3.5 out of 5</span> </b></div><ul><li><span>"Infusion,"<i> </i>narrator Malcolm Danvers </span>(<span>short story, released 2005)</span>&nbsp;</li><li>"Savage," narrator Clayton Danvers (novella, released 2003)<span>&nbsp;</span></li><li><span>"Ascension," narrator Clayton Danvers (novella, released 2003)</span>&nbsp;</li><li>“Kitsunegari," narrator Jeremy Danvers (novella, published 2009 in Men of the Otherworld)</li></ul><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"></div><div class="MsoNormal"></div><div class="MsoNormal"></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Author:</b><span>&nbsp;&nbsp; </span><a href="http://www.kelleyarmstrong.com/author/">Kelley Armstrong&nbsp;</a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Narrator:</b> <span>&nbsp;</span><span>&nbsp;&nbsp;</span><a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1067171/">Charles Leggett</a> - <b style="color: #990000;">3 out of 5</b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Length:</b> <span>&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>11:08 hours, purchased on <a href="http://www.audible.com/pd?asin=B002V8H4EO">audible&nbsp;</a></div><div class="MsoNormal">&nbsp; </div><div class="MsoNormal">&nbsp;&nbsp;</div><div class="MsoNormal">&nbsp; </div><div class="MsoNormal"><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:PunctuationKerning/> <w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/> <w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables/> <w:SnapToGridInCell/> <w:WrapTextWithPunct/> <w:UseAsianBreakRules/> <w:DontGrowAutofit/> </w:Compatibility> <w:BrowserLevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" LatentStyleCount="156"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} </style> <![endif]--> </div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Summary:</b></div><div class="MsoNormal">Among the humans live werewolves.<span>&nbsp; </span>Men only, who are born with the gene that manifests after puberty.<span>&nbsp; </span>They exist under the radar, living longer than humans, their aging slowed by the werewolf gene. Their society is loosely policed by the American pack – a singular, barely functional group that is dedicated to keeping the existence of werewolves a secret by killing all mutts (non-pack werewolves) whom they happen to cross. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">In the 1940’s, Malcolm, a werewolf, is seduced by a strange Asian woman who gets pregnant after one night and runs away with their son, Jeremy.<span>&nbsp; </span>The son is a wolf, but not completely.<span>&nbsp; </span>Unlike Malcolm, he is quiet, almost a pacifist, and Malcolm can’t seem to beat the werewolf back into his boy.<span>&nbsp; </span>But Jeremy sees the bigger picture when, for the first time, a young boy turned werewolf is discovered by the pack living by himself, abandoned in the Bayou of Louisiana. <span>&nbsp;</span>Clayton was seven, or so about, when Jeremy found him living in the swamp, socialized him, and took him home to upstate New York. Clayton survives as the only child werewolf, growing into a passable human, and takes Jeremy’s side as father and son clash over who will take over the American pack. <span>&nbsp;&nbsp;</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-Zd80gAdFavU/TYk6dBuRn5I/AAAAAAAAAFQ/3eskUwRbCcs/s1600/MtO4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-Zd80gAdFavU/TYk6dBuRn5I/AAAAAAAAAFQ/3eskUwRbCcs/s320/MtO4.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>On Narration:</b></div><div class="MsoNormal">This audiobook is read by <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1067171/">Charles Leggett</a>.&nbsp; <span></span>I haven’t listened to his narration before, but he’s very competent with the voices, which are almost exclusively male in this collection.<span>&nbsp; </span>His Cajun accent seems alright, but I’m not very familiar with the way it’s supposed to sound.<span>&nbsp; </span>His general reading is sincere and believable. My only criticism is that I had a hard time between the external and internal dialogue from Clayton’s point of view. For example, when Jeremy takes Clayton to the airport, Clayton recognizes a plane, but I did not realize he said it out loud until Jeremy responded.<span>&nbsp; </span>Kind of makes you wonder how much of the internal dialogue was really internal. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-jqM5JYVP50A/TYk6dpax-QI/AAAAAAAAAFY/JeuJ4Yamuqk/s1600/MtO2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-jqM5JYVP50A/TYk6dpax-QI/AAAAAAAAAFY/JeuJ4Yamuqk/s320/MtO2.jpg" width="207" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Domestication of Wolves to Men:</b></div><div class="MsoNormal">There are spoilers in this Review.<span>&nbsp; </span>If you have already listened to this audiobook, read the book, or hate surprises, please click below:</div><div class="MsoNormal"></div><a name='more'></a><br /><div class="MsoNormal">There are three parts to this collection.<span>&nbsp; </span>The first starts with a third-person narration of how Malcolm met Jeremy’s mother.<span>&nbsp; </span>It reminds me of <a href="http://www.kelleyarmstrong.com/bitten/"><i>Bitten</i></a>, the first Women of the Otherworld books in that it’s rather brutal and very reflective.<span>&nbsp; </span>The listener doesn’t empathize with any character in this part of the collection, but the story line is interesting.<span>&nbsp; </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">The best part of the collection was definitely the second – Clayton’s story told from his point of view. <span>&nbsp;</span>It’s very engaging.<span>&nbsp; </span>As hard it as it is to empathize with Malcolm is how smooth it is to slip into Clayton’s story. At the point where Clayton fears Jeremy will abandon him in the Bayou, I logically understood that the fear was unfounded because of the way it was written (and because I’ve listened to the whole series), and I still got teary-eyed. Oh, and it’s humorous, like when Clayton first observes Jeremy talking on a cellphone but he forgot what cellphones are, so he assumed Jeremy liked talking to plastic, and that’s fine. Jeremy likes to talk to plastic, Clayton likes to catch and eat the rats that run into the hotel room. “We all have our eccentricities.” That humor continues to Stonehaven in New York, when Jeremy enrolls Clayton in public school. There is a lovely double entendre where the kindergarten school teacher notices the Clayton is interested in the class’s rodent farm and, at a parent-teacher night, suggests Jeremy get Clatyon a pet.<span>&nbsp; </span>She says something like, “My friend’s cat just had kittens. Would you like that, Clayton? Would you like a kitten?” and Clayton, the constantly starving, mostly feral werewolf child replies, “Yes. Yes, I would love a kitten.” </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">The third part is Jeremy’s discovery of his mother’s people.<span>&nbsp; </span>Even though the cover of the collection hints at sex, and man-on-man at that, this is actually the only section that has it, and really only hints at it at that.<span>&nbsp; </span>If you’ve listened to the Women of the Otherworld series, you know there’s plenty of graphic adult scenes.<span>&nbsp; </span>The closest we get is the relationship between Jeremy and Jaime, which is nice, but not quiet as explosive as Clayton and Elena’s relationship in the series.<span>&nbsp; </span>This is actually the part I missed most about the collection – not the sex, but the relationship between Clayton and Elena from Clayton’s perspective.<span>&nbsp; </span>If you’re familiar with the series, Clayton turned Elena basically against her will.<span>&nbsp; </span>The more we know of Clayton throughout the series, including in this collection, the less that particular moment makes sense.<span>&nbsp; </span>I was hoping to get that moment from Clayton’s perspective, but that’s not in the story.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-ysU-EC9MTxA/TYk6d9QACOI/AAAAAAAAAFc/MTQL5Nvb6yc/s1600/MtO3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-ysU-EC9MTxA/TYk6d9QACOI/AAAAAAAAAFc/MTQL5Nvb6yc/s320/MtO3.jpg" width="193" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><span id="goog_361633545"></span><span id="goog_361633546"></span>http://literaryurbanfantasyreview.blogspot.com/2011/03/men-of-otherworld-collection-of.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Dharma Kurlind)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5236303228316094966.post-1250031661839414506Sat, 19 Mar 2011 05:38:00 +00002011-03-19T02:03:59.995-04:00The Bone Yard: A Body Farm Novel, Book # 6<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-WQpwvsqXQP4/TYQ8tB_F5nI/AAAAAAAAAFI/WNloWgxk60s/s1600/THE-BONE-YARD-by-Jefferson-Bass.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-WQpwvsqXQP4/TYQ8tB_F5nI/AAAAAAAAAFI/WNloWgxk60s/s320/THE-BONE-YARD-by-Jefferson-Bass.jpg" width="212" /></a></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><b></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Books: </b></div><div class="MsoNormal">1.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <i>Carved in Bone</i> </div><div class="MsoNormal">2.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <i>Flesh and Bone</i> (January 24, 2007)</div><div class="MsoNormal">3.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <i>The Devil’s Bones</i> (February 5, 2008)</div><div class="MsoNormal">4.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <i>Bones of Betrayal</i> (February 27, 2009)</div><div class="MsoNormal">5.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <i>The Bone Thief</i> (March 23, 2010)</div><div class="MsoNormal">6.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <i>The Bone Yard</i> (March 8, 2011) - <b style="color: #660000;">4 out of 5</b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Author:</b> <a href="http://www.jeffersonbass.com/bio.html">Jefferson Bass </a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Narrator:</b> <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0824264/">Tom Stechschulte</a> - <b><span style="color: #660000;">3.5 out of 5&nbsp;</span> </b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Length:</b> 9:40 hours</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>FTC Disclosure: </b><i>&nbsp;<a href="http://www.harpercollins.com/books/Bone-Yard/?isbn=9780062095404">Harper Collins Publishers</a> has graciously provided me with an audio version of this book for reviewing purposes.&nbsp; Aside from this courtesy copy, I have received no payment or services in exchange for this review.&nbsp;&nbsp;</i></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Summary:<br /></b>Dr. Bill Brockton is a world-renowned forensic anthropologist – yes, like the chick from <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bones_%28TV_series%29"><i>Bones</i></a> – who teaches at the "Body Farm" in Tennessee, an institution for hands-on training in forensic science. It is summer when Dr. Brockton gets a call from a former student and a forensic specialist with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, asking for his assistance with her sister’s murder investigation.&nbsp; An investigation that Angie St. Claire is conducting on her own after the small-town cops in Georgia deem her sister committed suicide by laying down on a couch and sticking a shotgun down her throat hours after she and her husband had a fight. &nbsp;Bored to death with classes over, papers waiting to be graded and articles waiting to be written, Dr. Brockton rushes to the assistance of his student.&nbsp; &nbsp;While visiting Northern Florida (more southern Alabama really), an old skull from a murdered child is discovered and the Florida police ask Dr. Brockton to take a look. As the bones start piling up and witnesses start getting killed off, a diary from the 1960s shows up to light the way. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Scientific Suspenseful Heartbreak:</b></div><div class="MsoNormal">A) <u>The Science</u> </div><div class="MsoNormal">In many ways, this series and this novel blur the edges of reality and fiction.&nbsp; The author’s afterword explains in detail exactly which parts of this novel are true, but even without giving anything away, the basic science underlying the novel is factual.&nbsp; First of all, <a href="http://www.jeffersonbass.com/bio.html">Jefferson Bass</a>, like <a href="http://www.ilona-andrews.com/">Ilona Andrews</a>,&nbsp;is really a pen name for two writers. &nbsp;One of the authors, Dr. Bill Bass, like the fictional Dr. Bill Brockton, is a world-renowned forensic anthropologist.&nbsp; The <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Body_farm">Body Farm</a>, at which the fictional Dr. Bill teaches, is a place that the real Dr. Bill founded, officially known as the University of Tennessee's Anthropology Research Facility. Because the real Dr. Bill writes a first-person point of view of the fictional Dr. Bill, there’s tons of information on forensic science that’s accurate, or at least sounds accurate to me. For the most part, this was well done, but like in <a href="http://literaryurbanfantasyreview.blogspot.com/2011/03/discovery-of-witches.html"><i>A Discovery of Witches</i></a>, the academics are sometimes a bit too much, and although I appreciated it, my mind did wonder.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">B) <u>The Suspense</u>&nbsp;</div><div class="MsoNormal">The book is a mystery and a thriller, but I’ve listened to plenty of mysteries and thrillers that fail to engage the reader.&nbsp; <i>The Bone Yard</i> works.&nbsp; It’s all in the pacing. &nbsp;So you’re listening to the scientific information, to the description of the scenes, to the description of the hotel, of a memory, and then the sentences start getting clipped. The descriptions start slowing down, and zooming in. It’s almost as if there’s that creepy background music behind the words. You know that something’s coming around the corner, and when it does, you still jump. There aren’t many such situations in the book, but when they pop up, they catch you. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">C) <u>The Heartbreak</u>&nbsp;</div><div class="MsoNormal">Early in the audiobook, Dr. Bill describes watching a documentary on child soldiers of Sudan, and how listening to something so horrible done to a child made it difficult for him to sleep at night.&nbsp; That’s a precursor to some of the parts of this audiobook.&nbsp; When the police start to suspect that the skull they found dated back to the 1960s, I was a bit disappointed.&nbsp; It’s hard for a listener to connect to a tragedy that happened far away or long ago.&nbsp; That’s where the diary comes in. Jefferson Bass does a great job writing from the point of view of a very young boy. Of course, it’s written much better than most adults can tell a story, but the voice is sincere and authentic.&nbsp; It grips the reader immediately. You empathize with the boy, feeling what he feels.&nbsp; And that’s pain.&nbsp; The main conflict hurts to listen to don't listen to it before going to bed. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>On Narration:</b></div><div class="MsoNormal">This is the first time I listened to an audiobook read by Tom Stechschulte, and the first thing I noticed was how much he sounded like an adult Tom Hanks. &nbsp;His voice has a nice tenor to it that works well with the narrative tone in <i>The Bone Yard</i>.&nbsp; It’s part film noir and part professorial. I was a bit put off by Tom Stechschulte's female voices are off, but inauthentic female voices are rather usual for male narrators.&nbsp; That aside, Tom Stechschulte’s villain voices are epic.&nbsp; He actually puts a slight growl in the reading.</div>http://literaryurbanfantasyreview.blogspot.com/2011/03/bone-yard-body-farm-novel-book-6.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Dharma Kurlind)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5236303228316094966.post-134654801357104711Thu, 17 Mar 2011 02:47:00 +00002011-03-16T23:03:50.142-04:00Mike Shepherd; Kris LongknifeDefiant - the Kris Longknife series, Book 3<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-DjrlUI1rNvw/TYFytSkZY4I/AAAAAAAAAE8/_HBWDhkNO6E/s1600/51wtVVJG-mL.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-DjrlUI1rNvw/TYFytSkZY4I/AAAAAAAAAE8/_HBWDhkNO6E/s320/51wtVVJG-mL.jpg" width="198" /> </a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>&nbsp;Books:</b></div><ol start="1" type="1"><li class="MsoNormal"><i>Mutineer</i> (May 22, 2009) – <b><span style="color: #660000;">3 out of 5</span></b></li><li class="MsoNormal"><i>Deserter</i> (May 22, 2009) – <b><span style="color: #660000;">4.5 out of 5</span></b></li><li class="MsoNormal"><i>Defiant</i> (May 22, 2009) – <b><span style="color: #660000;">4 out of 5</span></b></li><li class="MsoNormal"><i>Resolute</i> (July 28, 2009)</li><li class="MsoNormal"><i>Audacious</i> (July 28, 2009)</li><li class="MsoNormal"><i>Intrepid</i> (July 28, 2009)</li><li class="MsoNormal"><i>Undaunted</i> (October 27, 2009)</li><li class="MsoNormal"><i>Redoubtable</i> (February 1, 2011)</li></ol><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Author:</b> <a href="http://www.blogger.com/goog_2037125641">Mike Shepherd<span id="goog_2037125638"></span><span style="color: black; text-decoration: none;"></span></a><span id="goog_2037125639"><a href="http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/s/mike-shepherd/">&nbsp; </a></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Narrator:</b> <a href="http://headshotsusa.com/dinapearlman/">Dina Pearlman</a>&nbsp; – <b><span style="color: #660000;">2.5 out of 5&nbsp;</span> </b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Length:</b> 15:11 hours, purchased on <a href="http://www.audible.com/pd?asin=B002V1NQ66">audible</a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Summary:</b></div><div class="MsoNormal">In <i>Mutineer</i>,<i> </i>summarized <a href="http://literaryurbanfantasyreview.blogspot.com/2011/03/mutineer-kris-longknife-series-book-1.html">here</a>, Kris Longknife proved that she is Navy in the 24<sup>th</sup> century <i>and</i> one of “those damned Longknifes” after she removed her maverick commanding officer, thereby stopping a war with Earth. &nbsp;In <i>Deserter</i>, summarized <a href="http://literaryurbanfantasyreview.blogspot.com/2011/03/deserter-kris-longknife-series-book-2.html">here</a>, she embraced her role as Princess Kris, the granddaughter of King Ray, a legendary war hero who reluctantly took the newly created throne of the U.S. (United Sentients – about 90 planets) after the Society went belly-up.&nbsp; At the end of <i>Deserter</i>, the Navy promoted Kris to man her own tiny ship, the Pf 109.&nbsp; </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">At the beginning of <i>Defiant</i>, Kris is commanding a misfit crew, holding up her own. <i>&nbsp;</i>Things are looking up until Kris is arrested. The political climate has turned as Kris’s father is removed from his post as prime minister of the planet Wardhaven.&nbsp; In the midst of political squabbling, no one except Kris notices the Peterwalds pulling the strings.&nbsp; The politicians’ eyes open only under threat of invasion, and it is up to Kris to lead a suicide mission to preserve Wardhaven’s freedom and independence.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>How many of them can we make die?</b></div><div class="MsoNormal">In <a href="http://literaryurbanfantasyreview.blogspot.com/2011/03/mutineer-kris-longknife-series-book-1.html">this review</a> I noted that <i>Mutineer </i>was a bit disjointed, where parts of the story stood on their own and didn’t really fit together that well.&nbsp; In some ways, <i>Defiant </i>goes back to that formula.&nbsp; </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">At the start of <i>Defiant</i>, I was expecting <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0116130/">Down Periscope</a>. Instead of giving Kris a real command, the Navy makes her commander of an experimental ship full of misfits no one else wants.&nbsp; I thought it was going to be funny and cheeky, just like the movie, except in space.&nbsp; That expectation was quickly squashed when Kris is arrested.&nbsp; The way Mike Shepherd described that arrest is worth a second listen.&nbsp; It’s very, very well written. It’s written with so much feeling, so much emphasis, that I expected the arrest and trial to be a focal point for the entire novel a la <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0104257/">A Few Good Men.</a>&nbsp; Again, this expectation was quickly dispelled when Kris is sent on a diplomatic mission to a planet Hikila (planet Hawaii), which turns into a hostage/terrorist situation.&nbsp; I was pretty shocked at how little time and energy Mike Shepherd spent on Kris’s rehabilitation from the arrest. &nbsp;About 8 hours into the book, Kris returns from Hikila and maybe five minutes of the audiobook are dedicated to a summary recounting of how while she was away a few people from Olympia talked to the media and charges were dropped.&nbsp; I would have <i>loved </i>to hear this part in detail.&nbsp; Instead, we have Tom and Penny’s wedding leading right into the major conflict of the book: the invasion.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">Disjointedness aside, the invasion was wonderful. Mike Shepherd finally uses that third-person narration to get away from Kris and present us with the enemy.&nbsp; The enemy becomes much more realistic and the conflict more suspenseful. When Kris and her team start the plotting, the strategy talk, the prep work for the major conflict 6 hours to the end of the book, I wondered how it could be possible that anyone would expect a listener to hang in there for that long just for one fight. I was sure I’d get bored.&nbsp; Boy, was I wrong. Around 5 hours to the end of the book, a feeling started in the pit of my stomach, that feeling you get when you are a few hours away from giving a big speech – excitement and worry.&nbsp; Dread and anticipation.&nbsp; About 4 hours to the end of the book, I could not stop listening.&nbsp; I stay up until 2 a.m., on a Tuesday night, to finish the audiobook.&nbsp; Best part about listening to <i>Defiant </i>not in the car or at the gym, but on my computer?&nbsp; When Tom hits up the theme to the battle – “<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eCrnF844_ww">the March of Cambreadth</a>” – I hit up youtube and listened along on repeat at a low volume.&nbsp;&nbsp;</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><object class="BLOGGER-youtube-video" classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0" data-thumbnail-src="http://0.gvt0.com/vi/eCrnF844_ww/0.jpg" height="266" width="320"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/eCrnF844_ww&fs=1&source=uds" /><param name="bgcolor" value="#FFFFFF" /><embed width="320" height="266" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/eCrnF844_ww&fs=1&source=uds" type="application/x-shockwave-flash"></embed></object></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>On Narration:</b><br />I’ve reviewed Dina Pearlman’s reading of the <i>Mutineer </i><a href="http://literaryurbanfantasyreview.blogspot.com/2011/03/mutineer-kris-longknife-series-book-1.html">here</a> and the <i>Deserter </i><a href="http://literaryurbanfantasyreview.blogspot.com/2011/03/deserter-kris-longknife-series-book-2.html">here</a>.&nbsp;In both audiobook reviews, I enjoyed her rendition.&nbsp; I had issues with her reading of this audiobook.&nbsp; It started on Hikila.&nbsp; When good narrators give any Native American (or sensei - don’t ask me why) accents, they always slow down the speech.&nbsp; Unfortunately, Dina Pearlman didn’t just slow down the speech for the Hikila natives – she slowed down Kris’s speech, everyone's speech. Even Kris's internal dialogue became slow and over-emphasized from then on. It made the story sound insincere. That aside, what really killed it for me was her reading of “<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eCrnF844_ww">the March of Cambreadth</a>.”&nbsp; Mike Shepherd dedicates about 2 hours integrating that song to the major fight.&nbsp; He quotes all the lyrics.&nbsp; He has Tom discuss a false history of the song and lets the listener know that it’s from the 21<sup>st</sup> century. He reiterates the chorus with Kris and her crew screaming along.&nbsp; They shoot on the song’s command, for crying out loud! And Dina Pearlman reads the lyrics with the cadence you would use when playing “<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pat-a-cake,_pat-a-cake,_baker%27s_man">patty cake</a>” with a toddler.&nbsp; Now, I know not everyone is <a href="http://www.tantor.com/NarratorDetail.asp?Narrator=Gavin_M">Marguerite Gavin</a>, who as I mentioned <a href="http://literaryurbanfantasyreview.blogspot.com/2011/02/pale-demon-rachel-morganthe-hollows.html">here</a> actually made up tunes in her reading of <a href="http://www.kimharrison.net/">Kim Harrison</a>’s <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hollows_%28series%29">Rachel Morgan/Hollows series</a> and sang songs that never existed for the enjoyment of the listener and enhancement of the audiobook. &nbsp;And even fewer books are like the <a href="http://us.penguingroup.com/nf/Search/QuickSearchProc/1,,anita%20blake%20audio,00.html?id=anita%20blake%20audio">first few Anita Blake audiobooks</a> produced by Penguin Audio that have sound effects (background music, shotgun sounds, footsteps, etc.).&nbsp; But this tune is integral to the most important part of<i> Defiant</i>, and the audiobook format provides an incredible opportunity that the text cannot.&nbsp; Moreover this song is a simple Irish-like tune, very easy to hum, and very easy to find on youtube.&nbsp; I certainly never heard of it before listening to this book, and a google search got me everything I needed. The audiobook’s treatment of “the March of Cambreadth” is lacking - it's an opportunity missed - and, sadly, Dina Pearlman read the song like a cheerleader spells “be aggressive.” </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">&nbsp; </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-DjrlUI1rNvw/TYFytSkZY4I/AAAAAAAAAE8/_HBWDhkNO6E/s1600/51wtVVJG-mL.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a></div>http://literaryurbanfantasyreview.blogspot.com/2011/03/defiant-kris-longknife-series-book-3.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Dharma Kurlind)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5236303228316094966.post-5812268463875609270Tue, 15 Mar 2011 00:16:00 +00002011-03-14T20:38:40.132-04:00Kris LongknifeMike Shepherd; Mike ShepherdScience FictionDeserter - the Kris Longknife series, Book 2<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-o-TjhCRooxU/TX6ruxFQ16I/AAAAAAAAAE0/vCPD9A0CPVY/s1600/kris-longknife-deserter.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-o-TjhCRooxU/TX6ruxFQ16I/AAAAAAAAAE0/vCPD9A0CPVY/s320/kris-longknife-deserter.jpg" width="198" /></a></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Books:</b></div><ol start="1" type="1"><li class="MsoNormal"><i>Mutineer</i> (May 22, 2009) – <b><span style="color: #660000;">3 out of 5</span></b></li><li class="MsoNormal"><i>Deserter</i> (May 22, 2009) – <b style="color: #660000;">4.5 out of 5</b></li><li class="MsoNormal"><i>Defiant</i> (May 22, 2009)</li><li class="MsoNormal"><i>Resolute</i> (July 28, 2009)</li><li class="MsoNormal"><i>Audacious</i> (July 28, 2009)</li><li class="MsoNormal"><i>Intrepid</i> (July 28, 2009)</li><li class="MsoNormal"><i>Undaunted</i> (October 27, 2009)</li><li class="MsoNormal"><i>Redoubtable</i> (February 1, 2011)</li></ol><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Author:</b> <a href="http://www.blogger.com/goog_2037125641">Mike Shepherd<span id="goog_2037125638"></span><span id="goog_2037125639"></span></a><a href="http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/s/mike-shepherd/">&nbsp; </a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Narrator:</b> <a href="http://headshotsusa.com/dinapearlman/">Dina Pearlman</a>&nbsp; – <b><span style="color: #660000;">3.5 out of 5&nbsp;</span> </b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Length:</b> 14:02 hours, purchased on <a href="http://www.audible.com/pd/ref=sr_1_3?asin=B002V0LUOW&amp;qid=1300141734&amp;sr=1-3">audible</a>&nbsp;&nbsp; </div><br /><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Summary:</b></div><div class="MsoNormal">In <i>Mutineer</i>,<i> </i>summarized <a href="http://literaryurbanfantasyreview.blogspot.com/2011/03/mutineer-kris-longknife-series-book-1.html">here</a>, Kris Longknife proves that she is Navy in the 24<sup>th</sup> century <i>and</i> one of “those damned Longknifes” after she removes her maverick commanding officer, thereby stopping a war with Earth. Now, she is not only a 22-year-old daughter of the prime minister of the planet Wardhaven, but a “Princess” as she is the granddaughter of newly crowned King Ray, a legendary war hero who reluctantly took the newly created throne of the U.S. (United Sentients – about 80 planets) after the Society went belly-up at the end of <i>The Mutineer</i>.&nbsp; </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">In the beginning of <i>Deserter</i>, for her heroic mutiny, Kris finds herself both promoted and shunned.&nbsp; Sure, she saved Earth and stopped a war, but what Navy commander wants a subordinate with an insubordinate reputation? &nbsp;Who wants a princess for an underling? Even her best friend and fellow Naval officer, Tommy, puts space between himself and trouble-prone Kris, taking a vacation without inviting her along.&nbsp; No sooner does Tommy take off than he is kidnapped to the non-U.S. planet Turantic - a pawn to trap the princess. With a new side-kick governess from Earth, her sexy Secret Service body guard, and an improved personal pet computer, Kris must use her charms and her reputation to get herself and those she loves off Turantic alive.</div><div class="MsoNormal"></div><div style="color: #ead1dc; text-align: center;"><blockquote><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;">"She almost smiled at that. Girl meets boy.</span></div></blockquote><blockquote><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;">Girl invites boy into a world shaking conspiracy."&nbsp;</span></div></blockquote></div><div class="MsoNormal"> </div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Planet Traps &amp; Booby Traps:</b></div><div class="MsoNormal">I swear, I wrote <a href="http://literaryurbanfantasyreview.blogspot.com/2011/03/mutineer-kris-longknife-series-book-1.html">this review</a> before I read the sequel. It's purely coincidental that <i>Deserter</i> seems to address everything I found lacking in <i>Mutineer</i>. In <i>Mutineer</i>, I found Nelly, Kris’s personal pet computer, to be not fantastic enough (probably a bit less powerful than the newest Android). &nbsp;In <i>Deserter</i>, Nelly gets a major upgrade.&nbsp; Nelly now docks into Kris’s head and talks with Kris mentally.&nbsp; Nelly also starts developing a personality, one of a spoiled Justin Bieber fan. &nbsp;In <i>Mutineer</i>, Kris seemed more a soldier than a 22-year-old chick.&nbsp; In <i>Deserter</i>, with no military-appointed mission to follow, our heroine gets a lot more fem.&nbsp; Thanks to Kris’s new governess, we have some serious wardrobe changes, clothes descriptions, and other womanly upgrades. Push-up bra? About time!</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">I had felt that <i>Mutineer </i>lacked cohesion – not <i>Deserter. </i>&nbsp;This audiobook has a number of subplots, but they tie to together smoothly, and dip back to <i>Mutineer</i>, making the story flow easily from her arriving like a princess on Turantic via a Titanic-like luxury cruise ship to her going incognito as a poor Arabic boy with a limp in the midst of Turantic’s Islamic community. She seamlessly goes from a whore, to a maid, to a pregnant girl in a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burqa">burqa</a>. I also felt that <i>Mutineer</i> lacked the politicking I expected from a prime minister’s daughter.&nbsp; There’s so much of it in <i>Deserter</i>: the royal “we,” the dressing up, the appearances.&nbsp; Oh, and finally, things get sexier as well as more sophisticated.&nbsp; There’s tension, there’s flirting – no sex, but it’s not really needed.&nbsp; Also, I love the more-developed assisting character - Jack, the bodyguard, becomes a fixture in Kris's life, and Abigail becomes the Q to Kris’s Bond.&nbsp; Hence the booby traps – actual falsies that turn into bombs. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /><b>On Narration:</b><br />I’ve reviewed Dina Pearlman’s reading of the <i>Mutineer </i><a href="http://literaryurbanfantasyreview.blogspot.com/2011/03/mutineer-kris-longknife-series-book-1.html">here</a>. In <i>Mutineer, </i>I felt that Dina Pearlman did a great job with internal dialogue versus external dialogue. This becomes more important in <i>Deserter </i>since Nelly and Kris now talk both externally and in Kris’s mind.&nbsp; On a textbook, that’s easy to figure out.&nbsp; In an audiobook, it’s all Dina Pearlman’s skill.&nbsp; I also enjoyed her treatment of the Arabic accents. The way she read the lines of Apu and his family was both humorous and solemn. </div>http://literaryurbanfantasyreview.blogspot.com/2011/03/deserter-kris-longknife-series-book-2.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Dharma Kurlind)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5236303228316094966.post-8013683833124481520Sun, 13 Mar 2011 18:12:00 +00002011-03-14T19:21:35.023-04:00Mike Shepherd; Kris LongknifeScience FictionMutineer – the Kris Longknife series, Book 1<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-g01xIVGA7v8/TX0IutLRbaI/AAAAAAAAAEs/MUR-DLnQpa0/s1600/mutineer.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-g01xIVGA7v8/TX0IutLRbaI/AAAAAAAAAEs/MUR-DLnQpa0/s320/mutineer.jpg" width="198" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Books:</b></div><ol><li><i>Mutineer</i> (May 22, 2009) – <b style="color: #660000;">3 out of 5</b></li><li><i>Deserter</i> (May 22, 2009)</li><li><i>Defiant</i> (May 22, 2009)</li><li><i>Resolute</i> (July 28, 2009)</li><li><i>Audacious</i> (July 28, 2009)</li><li><i>Intrepid</i> (July 28, 2009)</li><li><i>Undaunted</i> (October 27, 2009)</li><li><i>Redoubtable</i> (February 1, 2011)</li></ol><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Author:</b> <a href="http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/s/mike-shepherd/">Mike Shepherd</a>&nbsp; </div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Narrator:</b> <a href="http://headshotsusa.com/dinapearlman/">Dina Pearlman</a> – <b><span style="color: #660000;">4 out of 5</span><span style="color: #660000;">&nbsp;</span> </b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Length:</b> 14:26 hours, purchased on <a href="http://www.audible.com/pd/ref=sr_1_3?asin=B002V8H6V0&amp;qid=1300039096&amp;sr=1-3">audible</a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Summary:</b></div><div class="MsoNormal">In the 24<sup>th</sup> Century, Kris Longknife is a 22-year-old daughter of the prime minister of the planet, Wardhaven.&nbsp; She is also one of “those Longknifes” – a family with a formidable military and political reputation, having living grandfathers who are legendary war heros.&nbsp; She should be smiling at bureaucrats, kissing babies and shaking hands at balls.&nbsp; Instead, Kris is a newly minted naval officer, exploring space while trying to make her way up the ranks on her own merit.&nbsp; In the beginning of <i>The Mutineer</i>, Kris saves the life of a little girl in a hostage situation, only to learn that the entire conflict was a staged trap to have the daughter of the prime minister of Wardhaven killed.&nbsp; Dodging assassination attempts, Kris must go to the planet Olympia to help feed a distressed, lawless planet, while the universe is on the brink of civil war.</div><div class="MsoNormal">&nbsp; </div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Join the Society’s 24<sup>th</sup> Century Navy; see the Universe:</b></div><div class="MsoNormal">This book has some really wonderful elements. First of all, it's sci fi/high fiction, so we're in the 24th century, on a few different planets. Even so, it's more a military novel, following the Navy career of Kris Longknife and the political structure of the Society among over 100 planets that have human life expansion. We don't see any aliens, and most fantastic elements have to do with computers and technology. I should mention that the book was written in 2004, meaning that Nelly - Kris's personal (pet) AI computer - is probably a bit less powerful than the newest Android.<br /><br />Be it as it may, the story is excellent, and very, very military. If you're into the politics of internal command hierarchy, or into rescue and humanitarian distress mission, it's a fun read. It's also interesting to hear a man write a story where the heroine is a 22-year-old female. He gets a lot of things right, but I think it's more because she's a soldier, and Mike Shepherd was Navy himself, so he knows a thing or two in the regard.<br /><br />My only real criticism is that this book was a lack of cohesion - it seemed to be separated in three parts: rescue mission &amp; return home (very well done; we really understand Kris's history from the mission, and we get a good understanding of her family - the prime minister family of an entire planet - from her return home); humanitarian mission on Olympia (this part sags. It tells us a lot of Kris's character and leadership abilities, but it gets too bogged down in the moral implications and reflections on a soldier's duties); and mission to attack (this is the crowning moment and the name-sake of the book).&nbsp; Unfortunately, these three parts don't meld too well. I would have liked to see a bit less soldiering, a bit more politicking, and maybe even a love interest beyond one guy asking Kris out to lunch. <br /><br /><b>On Narration:</b><br />Dina Pearlman is excellent. If you are familiar with Jeanne C. Stein's Anna Strong series, or Rachel Caine's Weather Warden series, you know what I mean. She does a wonderful Irish accent, which takes up a good half-hour of reading when the Highlanders visit Olympia. She also does a great job with internal dialogue versus external dialogue. At times in the book, Kris makes comments basically to herself. Since the book is written in third-person, the way Dina Pearlman reads these lines versus external dialogue is very important to the listener, and she does it successfully.</div>http://literaryurbanfantasyreview.blogspot.com/2011/03/mutineer-kris-longknife-series-book-1.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Dharma Kurlind)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5236303228316094966.post-6814756073073124394Fri, 11 Mar 2011 02:28:00 +00002011-03-10T21:33:21.654-05:00Deborah HarknessJennifer IkedaWitchesA Discovery of Witches<div class="MsoNormal"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-sNRjvNajfWk/TXmJJYmiN9I/AAAAAAAAADw/POe1H4Php8k/s1600/Discovery+of+Witches2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-sNRjvNajfWk/TXmJJYmiN9I/AAAAAAAAADw/POe1H4Php8k/s200/Discovery+of+Witches2.jpg" width="127" /></a></div><br /><br /><div style="color: #e06666;"><br /></div><div style="color: #e06666;"><span style="font-size: large;">It begins with absence and desire. </span></div><blockquote style="color: #e06666;"><blockquote> <div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">It begins with blood and fear. </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"></span></div></blockquote></blockquote><div style="color: #e06666;"></div><blockquote style="color: #e06666;"><blockquote><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">It begins with a discovery of witches.</span></div></blockquote></blockquote>&nbsp;</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /><br /><br /><b>Books:</b>&nbsp; </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.75in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font: 7pt &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span></span><i>A Discovery of Witches </i>(March 2011) – <b style="color: #660000;">2 out of 5</b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.75in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font: 7pt &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span></span>Two more books anticipated in the future</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Author: </b><a href="http://deborahharkness.com/">Deborah Harkness</a> </div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Narrator</b>: <a href="http://broadwayworld.com/people/Jennifer_Ikeda">Jennifer Ikeda</a>&nbsp; – <b style="color: #660000;">4 out of 5</b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Length:</b> 24:02, purchased on <a href="http://www.audible.com/search?searchAuthor=Deborah+Harkness">audible</a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-S4uvDDKPtss/TXmIEyRFhHI/AAAAAAAAADg/6vm0RZSPDyg/s1600/51b-IJHEaHL._SL500_AA300_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-S4uvDDKPtss/TXmIEyRFhHI/AAAAAAAAADg/6vm0RZSPDyg/s320/51b-IJHEaHL._SL500_AA300_.jpg" width="211" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b style="color: #660000;"></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Summary:</b></div><div class="MsoNormal">Diana Bishop, a descendent of <a href="http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/salem/SAL_BBIS.HTM">Bridget Bishop</a> of Salem, had sworn off witchcraft after her parents were murdered in Africa under the suspicions of being witches when she was 7 years old.&nbsp; A tenured 35-year-old professor teaching in Oxford, Diana was working in the <a href="http://www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/bodley">Bodleian Library</a>&nbsp;on her key-note address on the topic of alchemy when she inadvertently opens an archaic manuscript that no witch has been powerful enough to call upon in centuries. &nbsp;Overnight, Diana’s life is threatened as the three groups of preternatural creatures (demons, vampires, and witches) will stop at nothing to get their hands on the book.&nbsp; Under the protection of another Oxford professor – the vampire Matthew Clairmont – &nbsp;Diana embarks on the greatest discovery of their kind.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-zVCBT8gYaX4/TXmJkosypTI/AAAAAAAAAD0/XoAdaXVaN9M/s1600/Deborah-Harkness-A-Discovery-of-Witches.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-zVCBT8gYaX4/TXmJkosypTI/AAAAAAAAAD0/XoAdaXVaN9M/s320/Deborah-Harkness-A-Discovery-of-Witches.jpg" width="207" /></a></div></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Paranormal Identity Crisis:</b></div><div class="MsoNormal">In my opinion, <i>A Discovery of Witches</i> suffers from an identity crisis.&nbsp; What is it? A love story or a paranormal conspiracy-theory-type mystery?&nbsp; On the one hand, it’s basically a very adult, very grown-up <a href="http://www.stepheniemeyer.com/twilight.html"><i>Twilight</i></a>,&nbsp;where instead of students in high school, Diana and Matthew are professors at Oxford.&nbsp; Instead of dates at the movie theatre, on the beach, or in a meadow, we have yoga, teatime in England, and dancing at a French chateau. The audiobook aspires to that same <i>Twilight </i>feeling – the chaste love affair of two star-crossed lovers who should never be together, but fall for each other early on in the story and spend a good deal of the rest of it kissing, hugging, and nothing more.&nbsp; On the other hand, <i>A Discovery of Witches</i> aspires to also be a mystery/thriller a la <a href="http://www.danbrown.com/#/davinciCode">The Da Vinci Code.</a>&nbsp; Again, the plot centers on this incredible discovery that Diana, a professor with special powers, is on the verge of splitting wide open that can change the direction of the way creatures (demons, vampires and witches) have viewed their past, and change the course of their future.&nbsp; Like in <i>The Code</i>, there is an established hierarchical system of witches and a congregation of creatures who seek to stop Diana from making this discovery even if it means war.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">Most paranormal/urban fantasy novels skimp on the research.&nbsp; That’s not the case here. It helps that Deborah Harkness has released two non-fiction historical books, and also teaches history at a university level. This understanding of history really shines through.&nbsp; </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">Overall, this book is enjoyable but it’s very, very long.&nbsp; It’s a bit like the great works of Victor Hugo and Charles Dickens – great characters, wonderful plot, lots of emotions, but boy do you have to work through some parts of it to get there.&nbsp; Listening to this audiobook felt like a marathon. Usually, when only two hours remain to an audiobook, I have to fight myself to turn off the book so I can get some sleep.&nbsp; With this audiobook, at two hours until the end, I had to talk myself into finishing it. It is not surprising that many reviews are positive – with a book you can skip and skim over pages of description.&nbsp; With an audiobook, however, there is no skimming. You have to listen to every single word of that 24 hours.&nbsp; Every word of description.&nbsp; If there was an abridged version available, I’d highly recommend it. As is, I’d still recommend it, but with some reservations.&nbsp; It’s worth a listen, but just know what you’re getting into before you start.<br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-dBWKvB828cg/TXmJsgUeBHI/AAAAAAAAAD4/HZ1A5y5wYu8/s1600/Discovery+of+Witches.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-dBWKvB828cg/TXmJsgUeBHI/AAAAAAAAAD4/HZ1A5y5wYu8/s1600/Discovery+of+Witches.jpg" /></a></div><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>On Narration:</b></div><div class="MsoNormal">This is the first time I’ve listened to <a href="http://broadwayworld.com/people/Jennifer_Ikeda/">Jennifer Ikeda&nbsp;</a>read an audiobook, and I was impressed.&nbsp; She is particularly good with accents (French, British, and Irish), and has a very naturally expressive voice.&nbsp; Nothing over-the-top, but very believable. Her voice has just the right amount of emphasis to keep you from falling asleep while it’s soft and feminine enough to be consonant with the heroine in <i>A Discovery of Witches</i>. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Other Comments</b>:</div><div class="MsoNormal">This section contains SPOILERS.&nbsp; If you have already listened to this audiobook or if you hate surprises, please click below to continue reading.</div><a name='more'></a><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">This book has something I haven’t seen in a long time: parts with no tension.&nbsp; For example, when Diana goes to France with Matthew to his mother’s estate, we get to listen to her have dinner, go up to her room, go to bed, fall asleep, wake up, eat breakfast, and ride a horse.&nbsp; In extreme detail. The entire time, I kept wondering why the author would want to tell me all this.&nbsp; There had to be a point, right? But the writing wasn’t suggesting any tension.&nbsp; So I kept expecting a surprise. &nbsp;Diana getting food poisoning, attacked in her sleep, falling off a horse, maybe?&nbsp; Surely, I wasn’t listening to how difficult it was to put on those new riding boots or the dialogue between her and Matthew as to how ornery one of the horses had a reputation of being for nothing! I was wrong. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">These sorts of scene with no real point just kept popping up in the worst places.&nbsp; Toward the end, for example, we’re getting to the really good stuff – Diana’s about to go back in time with Matthew! Fascinating! Then, for some reason, we get this long scene and conflict between Matthew and a demon about Diana getting a small pox vaccine.&nbsp; In extreme detail. Like the chill from the glass of water Diana was holding as she was being injected.&nbsp; It seems like the point of having that scene was just to have a quote from Thomas Jefferson. Or the scene with Diana and Matthew picking up pizza before going back in time.&nbsp; I understand the point of having your favorite food that you might never have again, or the importance of having that vaccine, but frankly, all these items could have fit in two sentences. &nbsp;They didn’t need scenes. This audiobook should have been 8-12 hours long, like every other good urban fantasy/paranormal audiobook.&nbsp; </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">And it ends in a cliffhanger.&nbsp; I think I would have given this audiobook a 3 out of 5 had it ended in some sort of a resolution. You can’t have a 600 page book or a 24-hour audiobook and end it in a cliffhanger. That’s just not fair. </div>http://literaryurbanfantasyreview.blogspot.com/2011/03/discovery-of-witches.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Dharma Kurlind)3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5236303228316094966.post-1663235233424134073Tue, 08 Mar 2011 00:37:00 +00002011-03-07T19:37:56.783-05:00Cynthia HollowayJaye WellsMageMage in BlackSabina KaneVampiresGreen-Eyed Demon – the Sabina Kane series, Book 3<div class="MsoNormal"><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:PunctuationKerning/> <w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/> <w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables/> <w:SnapToGridInCell/> <w:WrapTextWithPunct/> <w:UseAsianBreakRules/> <w:DontGrowAutofit/> </w:Compatibility> <w:BrowserLevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" LatentStyleCount="156"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} </style> <![endif]--> <br /><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Books:</b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>1.<span>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span><i>Red-headed Stepchild</i> (April 1, 2009)</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>2.<span>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span><a href="http://literaryurbanfantasyreview.blogspot.com/2011/03/mage-in-black-sabina-kane-series-book-2.html">Mage in Black (April 2, 2010) – 3 out of 5</a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>3.<span>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span><i>Green-Eyed Demon</i> (March 1, 2011) – <b style="color: #660000;">3.5 out of 5</b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div style="color: #93c47d; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">“Exhale. Squeeze. Explosion. Chaos.”</span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-_QytBqqsySk/TXVvGmTs71I/AAAAAAAAADU/JDEzkPwwF2g/s1600/green-eyed+demon+book.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:PunctuationKerning/> <w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/> <w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables/> <w:SnapToGridInCell/> <w:WrapTextWithPunct/> <w:UseAsianBreakRules/> <w:DontGrowAutofit/> </w:Compatibility> <w:BrowserLevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" LatentStyleCount="156"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} </style> <![endif]--> <div class="MsoNormal"><b>Author:</b> <a href="http://jayewells.com/">Jaye Wells</a><br /><b>Narrator:</b> <span>&nbsp;</span><a href="http://cynthiaholloway.com/">Cynthia Holloway</a> – <b style="color: #660000;">3.5 out of 5</b><br /><b>Length:</b> 11:12 hours, purchased on <a href="http://www.audible.com/pd/ref=sr_1_1?asin=B004P81OIU&amp;qid=1299541430&amp;sr=1-1">audible</a>&nbsp;</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"></div><div class="MsoNormal"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-_QytBqqsySk/TXVvGmTs71I/AAAAAAAAADU/JDEzkPwwF2g/s1600/green-eyed+demon+book.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-_QytBqqsySk/TXVvGmTs71I/AAAAAAAAADU/JDEzkPwwF2g/s320/green-eyed+demon+book.jpg" width="198" />&nbsp;</a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><b>Summary:</b><br /><div class="MsoNormal">Sabina Kane, a rare half-vampire half-mage assassin, spent the first 53 years of her life living in L.A., doing the dirty work of the Dominae, the governing body for vampires led by her maternal grandmother.&nbsp; Her world is turned upside-down after her twin, a Mage Oracle, announces to the dark races her prophecy – that Sabina will unite the dark races.<span>&nbsp; </span>But not everyone wants peace.<span>&nbsp; </span>The Dominae want war, so that they can resurrect to gods of the past.<span>&nbsp; </span>Now, as Halloween draws closer, <span>&nbsp;</span>time is running out.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">At the beginning of <i>Green-Eyed Demon</i>, Sabina’s twin has been kidnapped by the Dominae, and the only way Sabina can save her life is to either trade in her own or to kill everyone responsible. <span>&nbsp;</span>Sabina travels to New Orleans to save her twin, stop a war, confront the gods, and come to terms with her past.&nbsp;</div><div class="MsoNormal"><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:PunctuationKerning/> <w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/> <w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables/> <w:SnapToGridInCell/> <w:WrapTextWithPunct/> <w:UseAsianBreakRules/> <w:DontGrowAutofit/> </w:Compatibility> <w:BrowserLevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" LatentStyleCount="156"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} </style> <![endif]--> </div><blockquote><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #b6d7a8; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><u>Sabina Kane’s To Do List:</u></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #93c47d; margin-left: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: large;">1.<span>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span><i>Perform voodoo ritual on evil owl; </i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #93c47d; margin-left: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: large;">2.<span>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<i> </i></span><i>Find out who sold us out to the anachronistic&nbsp;&nbsp; <br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; cast vampires; </i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #93c47d; margin-left: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: large;">3.<span>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span><i>Make amends with lesbian werewolf; </i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #93c47d; margin-left: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: large;">4.<span>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span><i>Rescue twin;<span>&nbsp; </span></i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #93c47d; margin-left: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: large;">5.<span>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span><i>Murder grandmother.</i></span></div></blockquote><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Dangerous Plot Curves Ahead:</b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:PunctuationKerning/> <w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/> <w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables/> <w:SnapToGridInCell/> <w:WrapTextWithPunct/> <w:UseAsianBreakRules/> <w:DontGrowAutofit/> </w:Compatibility> <w:BrowserLevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" LatentStyleCount="156"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} </style> <![endif]--></div><div class="MsoNormal">I’ve previously reviewed second book <a href="http://literaryurbanfantasyreview.blogspot.com/2011/03/mage-in-black-sabina-kane-series-book-2.html">here</a>.&nbsp;<span></span>Jaye Wells keeps the best parts of <i>Mage in Black </i>in this third audiobook, from her fast-paced “from the frying pan into the fryer” plot twists, to the loveable Giguhl taking another bullet in the tush.<span>&nbsp; </span>There are also new elements in this book that build and improve on the previous ones.<span>&nbsp; </span>For example, Jaye Wells adds a bit more depth in her humorous characters.<span>&nbsp; </span>Specifically, we are introduced to a fairy – in more ways than one - named Brooks/Pussy Willow.<span>&nbsp; </span>I won’t spoil it for those who haven’t listened to the audiobook yet, but this character grows in complexity.<span>&nbsp; </span>For me, however, both Sabina and Adam remained static throughout the three novels.<span>&nbsp; </span>Also, Jaye Wells builds on those lovely plot twists that make the listener come back for more. <i>Green-Eyed Demon</i> has an honest-to-goodness mystery plot, where Sabina must figure out who among her new community in New Orleans is a traitor to the Dominae.<span>&nbsp; </span><i>Mage in Black </i>had a mystery plot with regard to which mage was trying to kill Sabina in New York City, but in my opinion it wasn’t a very successful mystery because the listener sees it coming.<span>&nbsp; </span>Not so in <i>Green-Eyed Demon</i>.<i> </i>The resolution to the mystery in this audiobook is what I call an “Oh!” moment.<span>&nbsp; </span>That’s when the audiobook presents enough suspects with enough motives that you don’t see it coming, but there is also enough foreshadowing specific to the perpetrator that you kind of should have.<span>&nbsp; </span>The result is that when the book reveals who’s responsible, you actually, audibly, say “Oh!” <span>&nbsp;</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-v51y-moTmAM/TXV6RFbiUKI/AAAAAAAAADY/X1vkivWub74/s1600/51N-5wWrKML._SL175_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-v51y-moTmAM/TXV6RFbiUKI/AAAAAAAAADY/X1vkivWub74/s1600/51N-5wWrKML._SL175_.jpg" /></a></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><b>On Narration:</b></div><div class="MsoNormal">I’ve previously reviewed Cynthia Holloway’s reading of this series <a href="http://literaryurbanfantasyreview.blogspot.com/2011/03/mage-in-black-sabina-kane-series-book-2.html%20">here</a>. There’s not much to add.<span>&nbsp; </span>I still feel that Cynthia Holloway’s voice is great for this series, although not as spot-on as with a few other popular series in the genre.<span>&nbsp; </span>I also think that the voice is young and feminine enough to makes the Sabina Kane series appeal more to a younger audience than the one probably targeted, which is not necessarily a bad thing. </div></div>http://literaryurbanfantasyreview.blogspot.com/2011/03/green-eyed-demon-sabina-kane-series.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Dharma Kurlind)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5236303228316094966.post-633712530519853148Sat, 05 Mar 2011 04:38:00 +00002011-03-05T11:42:07.473-05:00Lorelei KingMercy ThompsonPatricia BriggsWerewolvesRiver Marked – the Mercedes Thompson series, Book 6<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;">Native American Folklore &amp; Suspense</span></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Books: </b>First five books in the series.&nbsp; </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.75in; text-indent: -0.25in;">1.<span style="font: 7pt &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span><i>Moon Called</i> (2006)</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.75in; text-indent: -0.25in;">2.<span style="font: 7pt &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span><i>Blood Bound</i> (2007)</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.75in; text-indent: -0.25in;">3.<span style="font: 7pt &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span><i>Iron Kissed</i> (2008)</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.75in; text-indent: -0.25in;">4.<span style="font: 7pt &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span><i>Bone Crossed</i> (2009)</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.75in; text-indent: -0.25in;">5.<span style="font: 7pt &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span><i>Silver Borne</i> (2010)</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.75in; text-indent: -0.25in;">6.<span style="font: 7pt &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span><i>River Marked</i> (2011)&nbsp;– <b style="color: #660000;">4 out of 5</b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.75in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Author:</b>&nbsp;&nbsp; <a href="http://www.patriciabriggs.com/">Patricia Briggs&nbsp;</a></div><b><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;; font-size: 12pt;">Narrator:</span></b><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;; font-size: 12pt;">&nbsp;&nbsp; <a href="http://www.loreleiking.com/">Lorelei King</a> - <b style="color: #660000;">5 out of 5</b></span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-YKYT9M0CxYI/TXG94qS-hOI/AAAAAAAAADA/TncjgilbeOc/s1600/River+Marked.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-YKYT9M0CxYI/TXG94qS-hOI/AAAAAAAAADA/TncjgilbeOc/s320/River+Marked.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Summary</b>:</div><div class="MsoNormal">Mercy Thompson is a VW mechanic who lives in an old trailer in the Washington State Tri-Cities area.&nbsp; She's also a half-Native American “walker” – a natural-borne coyote shapeshifter who can talk to the dead.&nbsp; For all of her almost 30 years of life, Mercy thought she was the last of her kind having learned that vampires rendered walkers all but extinct. In her life, Mercy never met her father or his people. &nbsp;In <i>River Marked</i>, this changes.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">In the beginning of <i>River Marked</i>, Mercy is finally mated to Adam, her sexy alpha werewolf neighbor for the past 10 years.&nbsp; Mercy’s friends and family orchestrate a surprise wedding for her, and Adam – her now husband and mate – surprises her with a honeymoon in the forest at the Columbia Gorge. &nbsp;He borrowed the trailer and the idea from Uncle Mike and, as Mercy points out, you can never trust the fae.&nbsp; Mercy is right. There is something in the Columbia River.&nbsp; It is an ancient water-monster, insatiable and horrifying – very <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cthulhu">cthulhu</a>.&nbsp; And it wants Mercy.&nbsp;</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-kPKTsb4-IyI/TXG9-naLP_I/AAAAAAAAADE/t4vFFjd3Ehw/s1600/Briggs-Patricia_River-Marked-II.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-kPKTsb4-IyI/TXG9-naLP_I/AAAAAAAAADE/t4vFFjd3Ehw/s320/Briggs-Patricia_River-Marked-II.jpg" width="203" /></a></div><br /><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Native American Folklore &amp; Suspense</b>:</div><div class="MsoNormal">I’ve previously reviewed the first 5 audiobooks in this series <a href="http://literaryurbanfantasyreview.blogspot.com/2011/02/unapologetic-use-of-fantastic-magical.html">here</a>. As I pointed out, Patricia Briggs does an incredible job researching and weaving in historical folklore, especially with regard to the faeries who in Mercy’s world have revealed themselves to the public. We’ve seen every kind of fairy in the prior books, but we haven’t seen any Native American folklore, with the exception of Mercy herself.&nbsp; This audiobook delves right in. <i>River Marked</i> includes the different tribes in the Washington area (Mercy is half Blackfeet), and includes the spirit animals of Thunderbird, Snake, Wolf, so on and so forth, and, of course, Coyote.&nbsp; We learn a lot about Mercy as she learns a lot about herself. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><i>River Marked </i>starts out much slower than the previous books.&nbsp; After the wedding, there is a ton of information.&nbsp; The action builds up a lot slower and the result is haunting suspense.&nbsp; Unlike the previous books, parts of <i>River Marked</i> aren’t just entertaining but down-right terrifying.&nbsp; In one part, for example, Mercy hears about the death of a girl whose brother tries to save her.&nbsp; The girl says “it’s so peaceful here” and then the brother discovers her body below her waist has been ripped off.&nbsp; The way it’s described in the audiobook is nightmare-inducing.&nbsp; The prior books had scary moments and scary monsters, but they didn’t haunt you like these scenes.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-kLin_XJETUE/TXG-DctzS8I/AAAAAAAAADI/mpM_BOZq-RM/s1600/Briggs%25252C%252BPatricia%252B-%252BRiver%252BMarked%252B-%252BMercy%252BThompson%252B%2525236.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-kLin_XJETUE/TXG-DctzS8I/AAAAAAAAADI/mpM_BOZq-RM/s320/Briggs%25252C%252BPatricia%252B-%252BRiver%252BMarked%252B-%252BMercy%252BThompson%252B%2525236.jpg" width="212" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>On Narration</b>: </div><div class="MsoNormal">This is what makes a great audiobook: great writing plus great reading. I’ve already gushed about how much I love the way Lorelei King narrates the Mercy Thompson series <a href="http://literaryurbanfantasyreview.blogspot.com/2011/02/unapologetic-use-of-fantastic-magical.html">here</a>. She doesn’t disappoint in <i>River Marked</i>.&nbsp; I mention above that parts are very suspenseful, and that’s a result of the way the book is read.&nbsp; One example is a scene in third-person that recounts the river monster taking over a school teacher who leads her family to their death in the river.&nbsp; In the middle of this dream, Lorelei King adds Adam’s voice, disjointing the dream with “Mercy” over and over again, while the narration ignores him until Mercy wakes up. &nbsp;&nbsp;When this scene began, I thought I was in a different audiobook.&nbsp; Lorelei King reads the scene with a new voice, giving life to a new character and her new family.&nbsp; It is exactly how the scene should be read.&nbsp; Then, when Adam’s voice starts breaking in to the internal dialogue, it brings not only Mercy back to her reality, but the listener back into <i>River Marked</i>. It becomes obvious that the scene is a dream. I recommend listening to that specific scene twice just because of how technically perfect the reading is.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div>http://literaryurbanfantasyreview.blogspot.com/2011/03/river-marked-mercedes-thompson-series.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Dharma Kurlind)3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5236303228316094966.post-7000702976911102444Thu, 03 Mar 2011 04:33:00 +00002011-03-03T18:26:56.624-05:00Cynthia HollowayJaye WellsMageMage in BlackSabina KaneVampireMage in Black – the Sabina Kane series, Book 2<div class="MsoNormal"></div><div class="MsoNormal">&nbsp;<b>Books</b>: </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.75in; text-indent: -0.5in;">1.<span style="font: 7pt &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span><i>Red-headed Stepchild</i> (April 1, 2009) </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.75in; text-indent: -0.5in;">2.<span style="font: 7pt &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span><i>Mage in Black</i> (April 2, 2010) –<b style="color: #660000;"> 3 out of 5</b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.75in; text-indent: -0.5in;">3.<span style="font: 7pt &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span><i>Green-Eyed Demon</i> (March 1, 2011)</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Author</b>:&nbsp; <a href="http://jayewells.com/">Jaye Wells</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Narrator</b>: <a href="http://cynthiaholloway.com/%20">Cynthia Holloway</a>&nbsp; <b style="color: #660000;">3.5 out of 5</b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-b0x3KSbERwE/TW8ZLj6QCtI/AAAAAAAAACw/md2cbrVcqdc/s1600/Jaye+Wells+-+Mage+in+Black.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-b0x3KSbERwE/TW8ZLj6QCtI/AAAAAAAAACw/md2cbrVcqdc/s320/Jaye+Wells+-+Mage+in+Black.jpg" width="197" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Summary</b>:</div><div class="MsoNormal">Sabina Kane, a rare half-vampire half-mage assassin, spent the first 53 years of her life living in L.A., doing the dirty work of the Dominae, the governing body for vampires led by her maternal grandmother.&nbsp; Her world is turned upside-down when she finds out that her grandmother barely tolerated her existence, considering her nothing more than a useful abomination. At the end of <i>Red-headed Stepchild</i>, Sabina discovers that her paternal side of the family – the Mage side – did not disown her at birth, but were kept ignorant of her existence until Sabina assisted Adam, a sexy mage, in shutting down the Dominae’s operations of kidnapping mages to steal their blood. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">At the beginning of <i>Mage in Black</i>,<i> </i>Sabina arrives in New York City to live among the mages if only as a form of revenge against her grandmother. &nbsp;Along with her for the ride is Adam, whom she would date if he was only not a mage, and Giguhl, her demon familiar.&nbsp; Sabina discovers powers she never thought she’d learn, and forms a relationship with a twin sister, a reflection of what she would have been had she grown up loved. &nbsp;But shortly after Sabina arrives in the Big Apple, it becomes apparent that someone wants her dead and that it has something to do with the Hecate Council about to declare war on the Dominae.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-CNLL9oL9QHw/TW8ZTJbC5bI/AAAAAAAAAC0/UKs5K3pUAzw/s1600/63680224_b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-CNLL9oL9QHw/TW8ZTJbC5bI/AAAAAAAAAC0/UKs5K3pUAzw/s1600/63680224_b.jpg" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>An Adult Book for a Young Adult</b></div><div class="MsoNormal">Is it wrong to recommend a novel with so much sex and violence to young adults?&nbsp; I hope not, because I highly recommend this one to the late high school, early college listener. This is one audiobook I would have absolutely loved at 18.&nbsp; Why? It’s fast.&nbsp; The pace is not even a gallop, it’s a full throttle. You just hold on and go for the ride.&nbsp; Sabina arrives in New York, someone tries to kill her. She goes to the park, someone shoots her, and then she gets attacked by wolves.&nbsp; She goes to a nightclub, meets an old flame, and punches him in the face.&nbsp; There are ebbs in tension, but the flow changes every ten to fifteen minutes, which is too fast to become bored with any one scenario. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">Another reason why I would recommend this novel to the younger audience of the urban fantasy/paranormal reader is the tone of the book.&nbsp; Sabina Kane and her twin are 53 years old, but they are consistently referred to as “child,” “girl,” “brat,” and other terms that make them sound like they are 16.&nbsp; And Sabina lives up to it. She is brimming with good old-fashioned teenage angst and related abandonment/acceptance issues. Her internal dialogue is pretty advanced, but everything in quotations comes right out of high school.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-1fEGDpk1mqE/TW8Zkr1M69I/AAAAAAAAAC4/tN6Weuhtzus/s1600/Jaye+Wells+-+Red-Headed+Step-Child.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-1fEGDpk1mqE/TW8Zkr1M69I/AAAAAAAAAC4/tN6Weuhtzus/s320/Jaye+Wells+-+Red-Headed+Step-Child.jpg" width="193" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>On Narration</b>:</div><div class="MsoNormal">This series is read by <a href="http://cynthiaholloway.com/%20">Cynthia Holloway</a>, who has a very feminine, young-sounding voice with a teenage cadence to it.&nbsp; Cynthia Holloway also narrated the <a href="http://www.karenchance.com/%20">Karen Chance</a>’s <a href="http://www.karenchance.com/books.html">Cassandra Palmer</a> series and <a href="http://www.rachelcaine.com/">Rachel Caine</a>’s&nbsp;<a href="http://www.morganvilletexas.com/%20">Morganville Vampires</a> series. &nbsp;She has a light sound to her voice that adds to my perception that this book would appeal to the young adult listener. &nbsp;Personally, I was much more impressed with her reading in the Morganville Vampires series.&nbsp; Her voice as Claire, Eve, Myrnin, and even the vampires, was spot-on.&nbsp; For some reason, the voices in this novel seemed too similar at times, even between male and female voices.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Other Comments</b>:</div><div class="MsoNormal">This is a big improvement on the first novel in the series stylistically.&nbsp; Jaye Wells keeps the wonderfully quirky and hilarious characters, like Giguhl, the demon (who can change form into a hairless cat and gets shot in the ass among other similarly embarrassing injuries), and keeps the deliciously twisty and turny unexpected plot revelations.&nbsp; And best of all, she ditches most of the unnecessarily <span class="readablereviewtext">elaborate and passive internal dialogue that was present in <i>Red-headed Stepchild</i>. &nbsp;It still shows up from time to time in <i>Mage in Black</i>, but must less so.&nbsp; </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="readablereviewtext">I did not enjoy the cliff-hanger ending.&nbsp; Cliff-hangers are not that uncommon in this genre.&nbsp; They are found at the end of the first books in the above-mentioned Morganville Vampires series, and also in <a href="http://www.karenmoning.com/kmm/dreamfever.html"><i>Dreamfever</i></a> by <a href="http://www.karenmoning.com/kmm/">Karen Marie Moning</a>.&nbsp;However, in those books, the cliffhanger was for a secondary plot development with the primary plot for the book being completely resolved.&nbsp; I suppose <i>Mage in Black</i> is similar because we find out who was trying to kill Sabina toward the end of the book.&nbsp; However, the cliffhanger has to do with the war between the dark races, and it seems that this was something the book was building up toward from the beginning of Sabina’s arrival in New York. I would have liked to have seen it through to the end.&nbsp; Luckily, <i>Green-Eyed Demon</i> was released yesterday.</span></div>http://literaryurbanfantasyreview.blogspot.com/2011/03/mage-in-black-sabina-kane-series-book-2.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Dharma Kurlind)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5236303228316094966.post-5308001069889049183Mon, 28 Feb 2011 05:50:00 +00002011-02-28T01:14:13.786-05:00DemonsKim HarrisonRachel MorganPale Demon - Rachel Morgan/the Hollows Series, Book 9<b>Books:</b><br /><ol><li><i>Dead Witch Walking</i> (April 2004)</li><li><i>The Good, the Bad, and the Undead</i> (January 2005)</li><li><i>Every Which Way But Dead</i> (June 28, 2005<a class="internal mw-magiclink-isbn" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/006057299X"></a>)</li><li><i>A Fistful of Charms</i> (June 27, 2006<a class="internal mw-magiclink-isbn" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0060788194"></a>)</li><li><i>For a Few Demons More</i> (March 20, 2007<a class="internal mw-magiclink-isbn" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0060788380"></a>)</li><li><i>The Outlaw Demon Wails</i> (February 26, 2008)</li><li><i>White Witch, Black Curse</i> (February 24, 2009)</li><li><i>Black Magic Sanction</i> (February 23, 2010)</li><li><i>Pale Demon</i> (February 22, 2011<a class="internal mw-magiclink-isbn" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0061138061"></a>) - <b style="color: #660000;">5 out of 5</b></li></ol><b>Author</b>:&nbsp; <a href="http://www.kimharrison.net/">Kim Harrison</a><br /><b>Narrator</b>:&nbsp;&nbsp; <a href="http://www.tantor.com/NarratorDetail.asp?Narrator=Gavin_M">Marguerite Gavin</a> - <b style="color: #660000;">4 out of 5</b><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-wjbNflickLA/TWsVBwfm8dI/AAAAAAAAACk/sEVkJjWI5_4/s1600/pale+demon.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-wjbNflickLA/TWsVBwfm8dI/AAAAAAAAACk/sEVkJjWI5_4/s320/pale+demon.jpg" width="212" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/--hGciBVxHpQ/TWsU7kxHoQI/AAAAAAAAACg/wOwFE7Uc9vY/s1600/Jaye+Wells+-+Red-Headed+Step-Child.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"> </a></div><b>Summary</b>:<br />Rachel Morgan, a powerful witch with a genetic quirk that allows her to twist demon magic with her blood, is desperately trying to get her shunning removed by the Coven as a black witch.&nbsp; If she fails, she will end up in the ever-after, living out her life among demons.&nbsp; At the end of <i>Black Magic Sanction</i>, Rachel has reached a truce with the Coven that they will remove her shunning if she shows up at the Convention meeting in San Francisco in a month and beg forgiveness for using black magic.&nbsp; In return, she'll keep secret that all witches are just stunted demons. Rachel has also reached an awkward truce at the end of <i>Black Magic Sanction</i> with Trent, a rich good-looking elf politician whom she made her demon familiar to rescue him from the ever-after, that he will cease trying to kill her if she removes her demon mark before the Convention.<br /><br />At the beginning of <i>Pale Demon</i>, we're three days away from the Convention.&nbsp; The Coven is doing everything in its power keep Rachel from the Convention, from placing Rachel on a no-fly list to trying to have her killed.&nbsp; In the meantime, Trent, who still wears Rachel's mark, has a mysterious Elvin quest he must complete that requires him to travel to the West coast as well, but not by plane.&nbsp; The result is this: a demon-witch, an elf, a pixy, and a living vampire; three days; one car. But surely, Rachel has a chance?<span class="mw-headline" id="Algaliarept"> Rachel's personal demon teacher, Algaliarept,</span> says it best&nbsp;(at 10:30 hours of 18):<br /><blockquote><span style="font-size: large;">“You don’t have a rainbow’s chance in hell to get your shunning revoked. . . . You just traipsed across the continent, black magic spilling in your wake, freeing demons and destroying a national monument.&nbsp; You knocked out a Coven member, kidnapped her, let her watch you use demon magic to fight of said freed demon. Twice.&nbsp; Hell, girl, you burned down Margaritaville! . . . You are so screwed.” &nbsp;</span></blockquote><br /><b>Incredible Internal Consistency</b>:<br />A good book in any genre is internally consistent. It's a matter of editing and proofing. However, no one expects a series to be internally consistent. We're talking many years, sometimes a decade, of book after book.&nbsp; Characters change; rules change.&nbsp; Just think of <a href="http://www.charlaineharris.com/">Charlaine Harris'</a>s very excellent <a href="http://www.charlaineharris.com/bibliography/bibliog-sookie.html">Southern Vampire Mystery</a> series.&nbsp; In the first book,<i> Dead Until Dark</i>, we're given a clear rule that if a corpse is not drained of blood, it wasn't killed by a vampire.&nbsp; Bill explains that it's simply beyond a vampire's capability to leave a corpse without drinking its blood. However, in the fifth book, <i>Dead as a Doornail</i>, a vampire kills a man without touching his blood to frame a human.&nbsp; Really, throughout the series there's plenty of non-snacking killings by vampires.&nbsp; Five years later, Charlaine Harris cannot go back and edit out that one line from her first book. We understand that.&nbsp; Moreover, that bit of inconsistency takes away nothing from the enjoyability of the later books.<br /><br />Kim Harrison is shockingly consistent throughout the series.&nbsp; Early in <i>Pale Demon</i>, Rachel is attacked by an elf for the first time with what she calls "wild magic."&nbsp; The method of attack is kind of strange:&nbsp; Rachel is attacked by elves singing. This is book nine, and while I listen to this, I'm thinking of my favorite scene from the series in book three, <i>Every Which Way But Dead, </i>where Trent saves Rachel from hypothermia.<br /><blockquote>"The car picked up speed, and the sound seemed to lull me. I could relax, I thought as I felt the tingling of circulation in my limbs. I was in Trent’s car, wrapped in a blanket, and held in his arms. He wouldn’t let anything hurt me. He wasn’t singing, though, I mused. Shouldn’t he be singing?" </blockquote>When I first listened to <i>Every Which Way But Dead</i>, that last sentence stuck out for me. Why singing? Now I know. Kim Harrison was able to foreshadow a magical element in <i>Pale Demon </i>6 years and 6 books ago. This is something that needs to be celebrated.<br /><br /><b>On Narration:</b> <br />If you are familiar with <a href="http://www.carrievaughn.com/">Carrie Vaughn'</a>s <a href="http://www.carrievaughn.com/"><i>Kitty Norville </i></a>series or the previous audiobooks in this series (with the exception of <i>The Outlaw Demon Wails</i>, which is narrated by <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0083654/">Gigi Bermingham</a>), you are well-acquainted with <a href="http://www.tantor.com/NarratorDetail.asp?Narrator=Gavin_M">Marguerite Gavin</a>'s voice.&nbsp; If not, she has a strong radio-like voice, which has a sing-song quality to it. It takes about an hour to get used to the cadence that draws out the end of sentences, but once you do, it becomes part and parcel of the way you hear the story.&nbsp; She does fantastic accents and convincing male voices.&nbsp; Also, Marguerite Gavin sings certain parts of the book that require it, which is quite a bonus.&nbsp; She has a good singing voice and I don't suppose Kim Harrison actually had a song in mind when she wrote down what Trent sings. <br /><br /><b>Other Comments</b>:<br />The lines are spectacular. The past few days I've gotten into the habit of saying things like "G-d bless it!" "Damn it back to the Turn." "Crap on toast!" and everything to do with Tink's diaphram, dildo, and being a Disney whore.&nbsp; Basically, the quirky inside jokes are slowly taking over my everyday exclamations. <br /><br />There are spoilers in this section, where I describe what happens to Rachel in the ever-after.&nbsp; If you've already read this book or hate surprises, please see the rest by clicking below.<br /><br /><a name='more'></a>One of the most spectacular parts of <i>Pale Demon</i> comes toward the end, after Rachel is banished to the ever-after.&nbsp; There she is challenged to "make a new memory" for a demon restaurant to prove that she is actually a demonness, as only a female demon can make a new memory.&nbsp; The act is supposed to be akin to childbirth.&nbsp; Newt talks Rachel through creating a memory so strong in her mind, that it seems almost real. Then, Rachel allows <span class="mw-headline" id="Algaliarept">Algaliarept to pull the memory out of her soul, bit-by-bit, piece-by-piece, describing every inch of it to frame a completely new scene - a desert, with the sun. I couldn't help but marvel at what a wonderful metaphor that was for fiction writing.&nbsp;</span><br /><span class="mw-headline" id="Algaliarept"><br /></span><br /><span class="mw-headline" id="Algaliarept">Also, I can't take the teasing any more. Can we please have Trent and Rachel hook up already? They're so perfect in so many small and subtle ways. Like that their auras as so similar that Biss takes Rachel to Trent when she's dying. Or that Trent can only be himself with Rachel.&nbsp; Or that Rachel will now have a say in the way Lucy, Trent's daughter, is raised.&nbsp; Or the kiss... come on, that kiss toward the end!&nbsp; Just let them be together already!</span><br /><span class="mw-headline" id="Algaliarept"><br /></span><br /><span class="mw-headline" id="Algaliarept">Also, I am consistently blown away by the character development of </span><span class="mw-headline" id="Algaliarept">Algaliarept.&nbsp; He is Kim Harrison's personal <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Severus_Snape">Professor Snape</a>.&nbsp; He starts out being so horrible, so terrifying, so totally awful in every way, and now, he's almost endearing. When Rachel saves his life from Pierce, it seemed like the most natural thing to the listener, even though 5 books ago, Rachel would have been thrilled to have him dead and gone.&nbsp; When Algaliarept talks about what he saw in Rachel's soul after she created that memory, it's such a raw summary.&nbsp; The listener might not love Al, but with every book he becomes a more sympathetic character. </span><br /><br /><div class="MsoNormal"></div>http://literaryurbanfantasyreview.blogspot.com/2011/02/pale-demon-rachel-morganthe-hollows.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Dharma Kurlind)2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5236303228316094966.post-2793865650726767866Sat, 26 Feb 2011 16:57:00 +00002011-02-26T11:57:45.853-05:00Half Moon HollowJane JamesonMolly HarperVampiresWerewolvesA Penny for Molly Harper's Thoughts<span id="goog_450168664"></span><span id="goog_450168665"></span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-T9Tct40XBhk/TWh2hKwQjwI/AAAAAAAAAB0/AvKiE5Y21n8/s1600/Molly+Harper.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-T9Tct40XBhk/TWh2hKwQjwI/AAAAAAAAAB0/AvKiE5Y21n8/s1600/Molly+Harper.jpg" /></a></div><span style="font-size: large;">A Brief Interview with Molly Harper, the Author of the Jane Jameson &amp; Naked Werewolf series</span>.<br /><br /><a href="http://authors.simonandschuster.com/Molly-Harper/47365388/biography"><b>Bio</b></a>:&nbsp; Raised in Mississippi and Kentucky, Molly Harper graduated from Western Kentucky University with a bachelor's degree in print journalism. She worked for six years as a reporter and humor columnist; her reporting duties included covering courts, school board meetings, quilt shows, and once, the arrest of a Florida man who faked his suicide by shark attack and spent the next few months tossing pies at a local pizzeria. Molly lives in western Kentucky with her husband and daughter.<br /><br /><br /><br /><b>A Penny for Your Thoughts</b> is a new feature on Lost Art Audio. It is similar to an author interview, except it is short, sweet, and focused on the audiobook.The first Penny for Your Thought comes from the author of <a href="http://literaryurbanfantasyreview.blogspot.com/2011/02/how-to-flirt-with-naked-werewolf.html">recently reviewed</a> <i>How to Flirt with a Werewolf</i>.&nbsp; Muchos gracias to<a href="http://authors.simonandschuster.com/Molly-Harper/47365388/biography"> Molly Harper</a> for taking to time to indulge my curiosity! <br /><br /><span style="font-size: large;">Read Lost Art Audio's review of <u><a href="http://literaryurbanfantasyreview.blogspot.com/2011/02/how-to-flirt-with-naked-werewolf.html"><i>How to Flirt with a Naked Werewolf</i></a>.</u></span><br /><br /><br /><br /><div style="color: #eeeeee;"><b>Q.</b>&nbsp;&nbsp; <b>Have you given audiobooks a try? How about e-books and the like? Any preference?&nbsp;</b></div><blockquote>I adore listening to audiobooks. Here lately, the only way I can "read" is to listen to them on my morning and afternoon commutes. And I do listen to my own. I can experience the book in a way that makes it new to me, too. Other than print, it's my favorite format. I'm still getting used to e-books.&nbsp; <b><br /></b></blockquote><br /><br /><div style="background-color: black; color: #eeeeee;"><b>Q.</b>&nbsp;&nbsp; <b>The audiobook of <i>How to Flirt With a Naked Werewolf </i>is narrated by <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2525034/">Amanda Ronconi</a>, as are the three Jane Jameson novels. Even the non-preternatural <i>And One Last Thing</i> is narrated by Amanda Roncini. Are you acquainted with the actress? Have you ever met Ms. Roncini?&nbsp;</b></div><br /><blockquote>I love <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2525034/">Amanda Ronconi</a>. She really "gets" my voice. I've never met her, though. I live in <a href="http://www.paducah.travel/">Paducah, KY</a>, which is pretty much as far from the publishing world as you can get. If not for the internet and email, I'm not sure if I would be published! <b>&nbsp;</b></blockquote><br /><br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-cN78QPSoSAw/TWh4ELsYu-I/AAAAAAAAACE/a5XbG0Nj2i0/s1600/NGD1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-cN78QPSoSAw/TWh4ELsYu-I/AAAAAAAAACE/a5XbG0Nj2i0/s320/NGD1.jpg" width="197" /></a></td></tr><tr align="left"><td class="tr-caption"><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-obzgtrmQHww/TWh4GPbphZI/AAAAAAAAACI/1ISapL_yv2k/s1600/NGD2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-obzgtrmQHww/TWh4GPbphZI/AAAAAAAAACI/1ISapL_yv2k/s320/NGD2.jpg" width="196" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td></tr></tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; color: #eeeeee; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; color: #eeeeee; text-align: left;"><b>Q. &nbsp; I'm sure you get this a lot, but your writing is hilarious. Have you ever done any stand-up comedy? Where did you develop your comedic style? Who are your favorite comedians? </b> </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"></div><blockquote>Thanks! and no, I've never done stand up. I love it if I could, but I do not participate in any endeavors that involve public speaking. I panic in front of large crowds. (Because they're looking at me!) I become barely intelligible. <br /><br />My comedic style can be blamed on my family. My parents have a very dry, sarcastic wit. And my writing voice is very much like my speaking voice. Some of my favorite comedians are <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Titus">Christopher Titus</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitch_Hedberg">Mitch Hedberg</a>. <a href="http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Mitch_Hedberg">Favorite Hedberg joke ever</a>. "I wrote a screenplay and my friend read it and said I should re-write it. I said, 'F--- that, I'll just make a copy." </blockquote><br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-YXg5Qa6UEkU/TWh4IYFO2uI/AAAAAAAAACM/pjBZUOMziig/s1600/NGD3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-YXg5Qa6UEkU/TWh4IYFO2uI/AAAAAAAAACM/pjBZUOMziig/s320/NGD3.jpg" width="196" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td></tr></tbody></table><div style="color: #eeeeee;"><b>Q.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; A little birdy told me that not only is there a 4th Jane Jameson book in the making, but two spin-offs with Half-Moon Hollow characters. Which characters? Any spoilers/teasers you're free to share?&nbsp;</b></div><br /><blockquote>There WILL be a fourth Jane book published in March 2012. It's still untitled, and I can't tell you much beyond the fact that Jane and Gabriel will be planning their wedding... and you know that's not going to go smoothly. There will be two Half-Moon Hollow spin-off books, but I can't reveal anything about the plots. I can say that the characters will know Jane and she will appear in the books. But only as a background character.</blockquote><br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-3c_hgzC2ExU/TWh6S5DL-tI/AAAAAAAAACQ/9PzKYcELAJ4/s1600/HtFwaNW.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-3c_hgzC2ExU/TWh6S5DL-tI/AAAAAAAAACQ/9PzKYcELAJ4/s320/HtFwaNW.jpg" width="198" /></a><a href="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-sj6bCPd7wCE/TWh6T28SmBI/AAAAAAAAACU/7BPXCKpzt3k/s1600/naked+werewolf+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-sj6bCPd7wCE/TWh6T28SmBI/AAAAAAAAACU/7BPXCKpzt3k/s320/naked+werewolf+2.jpg" width="194" /></a><a href="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-sj6bCPd7wCE/TWh6T28SmBI/AAAAAAAAACU/7BPXCKpzt3k/s1600/naked+werewolf+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"> </a></div>&nbsp; <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div style="color: #eeeeee;"><br /></div><div style="color: #eeeeee;"><b>Q.&nbsp;&nbsp; I already mentioned that your preternatural books are hilarious, and I'm sure you know how rare that is. What gave you the idea of doing an urban fantasy comedy?</b></div><blockquote>I've always been interested in the paranormal. I checked those "Mysteries of the Paranormal" non-fiction books out of the school library so many times that the librarian sent a concerned note home to my mom. I loved <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0118276/">Buffy</a> and <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0162065/">Angel</a>, any show that mixed humor and horror won my undying loyalty. So when I decided to write, it was a natural fit that I would write about the supernatural. <b>&nbsp;</b></blockquote>http://literaryurbanfantasyreview.blogspot.com/2011/02/penny-for-molly-harpers-thoughts.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Dharma Kurlind)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5236303228316094966.post-7922214518507375498Sat, 26 Feb 2011 01:55:00 +00002011-02-25T21:53:38.563-05:00ComedyMolly HarperWerewolvesHow to Flirt with a Naked Werewolf<div class="MsoNormal"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: black; color: white;"><br /><b><span style="font-size: large;"><i>“You bit me! . . . Again!” </i></span></b><br /><blockquote><span style="font-size: large;">“It’s a good thing. It means you’re mine. The scar is a public declaration. It means you’re my mate. It means no other wolf can claim you.&nbsp; It means you’re under my protection and the protection of my pack. . . . It’s no different than me peeing on your door step.”</span></blockquote></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: black; color: white;"><i><span style="font-size: large;">&nbsp;<b>“You peed on my door step!?”</b></span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Books:&nbsp;</b><br /><ul><li><i>How to Flirt with a Naked Werewolf&nbsp;</i><b> </b>(February 22, 2011) –<span style="color: #660000;"> </span><b style="color: #660000;">4 out of 5<br style="background-color: black;" /> </b></li><li><i>The Art of Seducing a Naked Werewolf&nbsp;</i><b> </b>(March 29, 2011) <b style="color: #660000;"> </b></li></ul></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Author:</b>&nbsp; <a href="http://www.mollyharper.com/">Molly Harper</a> </div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Narrator: </b>&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2525034/">Amanda Roncini</a><span style="color: #660000;"> - </span><b style="color: #660000;">3 out of 5</b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-4c4qjQQCtds/TWhV__FvzdI/AAAAAAAAABw/-pdutH5Ovw0/s1600/HtFwaNW.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-4c4qjQQCtds/TWhV__FvzdI/AAAAAAAAABw/-pdutH5Ovw0/s320/HtFwaNW.jpg" width="198" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Summary</b>:&nbsp; </div><div class="MsoNormal">A native of Mississippi who grew up under the oppressive home-schooled, granola-eating tyranny of two uber-hippie parents, soon-to-30-year-old Mo experiences a late quarter-life crisis and runs away to Grundy, Alaska, to discover herself.&nbsp; She discovers herself stuck in the middle of a frozen winter wilderness, surrounded by starving werewolves.&nbsp; Good thing Mo can cook! &nbsp;In this romantic pseudo-mystery comedy, Mo and Cooper, Mo’s sexy yet surly self-exiled werewolf neighbor, fall in love and make peace with their respective families.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"></div><blockquote style="color: #f3f3f3;"><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;">“What do you want from me, Maggie?&nbsp; My advice? My Absolution?&nbsp; Go forth, and be a bitch no more.”</span></div></blockquote><div class="MsoNormal"></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Preternaturally Funny</b>:</div><div class="MsoNormal">What sets Molly Harper’s writing apart from the typical urban fantasy/paranormal romance novel is her uniquely comedic voice. If you’re familiar with her Jane Jameson series, this will come as no surprise.&nbsp; If you’re not, don’t drink anything while listening to this audiobook. Consider yourself warned. &nbsp;<i>Naked Werewolf</i> relies mostly on hyperbole and absurd juxtaposition.&nbsp; Mo’s parents aren’t just aging hippies – they own an organic vegan farm.&nbsp; Mo’s mom refused to go to her college graduation because it would be giving into the man.&nbsp; Mo’s mom once walked in on Mo and a guy getting it on, and instead of walking out, she started lecturing the couple on the positives of tantric sex. &nbsp;Mo’s mom isn’t just overbearing, she calls Mo up at 3 a.m. every year on Mo’s birthday to re-tell the story of her water birth in graphic detail.&nbsp; Something Mo’s college roommates really appreciated. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">The comedy makes <i>Naked Werewolf</i> narrator-driven as opposed to plot-driven or even character-driven. In other words, it’s a bit slow on the action and heavy on the reminiscing.&nbsp; Considered a cardinal sin for popular novel writing, <i>Naked Werewolf</i> starts out by giving the listener a full biography of Mo, from her birth, to her high school years, to why she’s in Alaska. Another cardinal rule broken, Molly Harper gives us at least a dozen similar characters for the usual residents of Grundy in the first few chapters.&nbsp; I re-listened to that first hour of the audiobook before continuing on. Why?&nbsp; Because it was just that funny.&nbsp; I wasn’t lost, I wasn't confused. I just wanted to hear again about the guy who looks like <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yosemite_Sam">Yosemite Sam</a>, the guy who looks like <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WrdYs_OlB7g">Blue</a>, and the waitress who looks like the girl next door “if you live next door to a cathouse.” I wanted to hear again about how Mo clawed her way to public school.&nbsp; It’s like listening to <a href="http://www.billmaher.com/">Bill Maher</a>’s <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1039915/"><i>Decider</i></a>, lines from the audiobook kept popping into my head all day.&nbsp; I wanted to hear it again badly enough to start over from the beginning.&nbsp; </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">If you’re an avid listener in the genre, you’re used to audiobooks that start out with a bang, hook you in the action, keep you guessing, and take all-together a very short amount of time.&nbsp; Not so with <i>Naked Werewolf</i>.&nbsp; If you read the blurb summary from <a href="http://www.audible.com/pd?asin=B004NEFHYS">audible</a> or <a href="http://www.amazon.com/How-Flirt-Naked-Werewolf/dp/B004OX139Q/ref=tmm_aud_title_0?ie=UTF8&amp;m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&amp;qid=1298684989&amp;sr=8-1-fkmr0">amazon</a>, you’ll know the foreshadowed pivotal event is Mo “find[ing] a naked guy with a bear trap clamped to his ankle on [her] porch.”&nbsp; That scene comes 3 hours into the 9 hour book (about a 1/3 of the way, for those of you who can’t do fractions).&nbsp; Also, the time line is different. An average <a href="http://www.kimharrison.net/">Kim Harrison</a>’s <a href="http://www.kimharrison.net/TheBooks.html">Rachel Morgan novel</a> is a week long.&nbsp; With <a href="http://www.charlaineharris.com/">Charlaine Harris</a>’s <a href="http://www.charlaineharris.com/bibliography/bibliog-sookie.html">Southern Vampire Mystery Series</a>, by book seven, Sookie and Bill have known each other for only about three months. <i>Naked Werewolf</i> spans over a full, entire year.&nbsp; It doesn’t take away from the action because, frankly, there’s not a lot of action.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #eeeeee;">&nbsp; </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #eeeeee;"><i><span style="font-size: large;">"You know how some people just rub you the wrong way?&nbsp; </span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #eeeeee;"><i><span style="font-size: large;">Well. Cooper's my own personal sandpaper."</span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #eeeeee;"><br /></div><blockquote><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: black; color: #eeeeee;"><span style="font-size: large;">“Don’t take it personally . . .&nbsp; Some people were just born with a pinecone shoved up their butts.&nbsp; In Cooper's case, it's lodged sideways."</span></div></blockquote><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 2.5in;"><br /></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Other Comments:</b></div><div class="MsoNormal">As someone who loved the Jane Jameson series (and happens to be thrilled the 4<sup>th</sup> book is in the works!), I was pleasantly surprised by the leading male in <i>Naked Werewolf</i>.&nbsp; For those of you who listened to <i>Nice Girls Don’t Have Fangs</i>, let’s be honest, Gabriel is not exactly a complex character. &nbsp;When you close your eyes and someone says “master vampire love interest in romance novel” you picture Gabriel. That didn’t bother me much because, as mentioned above, narrator-driven novel, I’m just here for the chuckles.&nbsp; However, with Cooper, Molly Harper added a much more dynamic character. Perhaps he goes from being a jerk to being a romantic lead in the blink of an eye, but there’s a certain complexity to his character, his past, and the way he interacts with his surroundings.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>On Narration: </b></div><div class="MsoNormal">All of Molly Harper’s audiobooks, including this one, are narrated by Amanda Roncini.&nbsp; Her voice is perfect for the part.&nbsp; It’s light, slightly scratchy, not particularly accented – faintly tinted with something vaguely Southern.&nbsp; Amanda Roncini does a great snarky voice for a snarky Mo, and she’s able to pull off the punch lines just right.</div>http://literaryurbanfantasyreview.blogspot.com/2011/02/how-to-flirt-with-naked-werewolf.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Dharma Kurlind)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5236303228316094966.post-2014893422795485697Thu, 24 Feb 2011 03:18:00 +00002011-02-23T22:31:07.412-05:00Jeaniene FrostNight HuntressTavia GilbertVampiresThis Side of the Grave – The Night Huntress Series, Book 5<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;">"A delicate balance stood centuries between vampires and ghouls. Along came the Red Reaper, who tipped that balance on little Cat feet."</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;">&nbsp;</span> </div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Books</b>:&nbsp; Latest book in the series.</div><ol start="1" type="1"><li class="MsoNormal"><i>Halfway to the Grave</i> (2007) </li><li class="MsoNormal"><i>One Foot in the Grave</i> (2008)</li><li class="MsoNormal"><i>At Grave's End</i> &nbsp;(2008)</li><li class="MsoNormal"><i>Destined for an Early Grave</i> (2009)</li><li class="MsoNormal"><i>This Side of the Grave </i>(2011) - <b style="color: #660000;">3 out of 5</b></li></ol><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Author</b>:&nbsp; <a href="http://jeanienefrost.com/">Jeaniene Frost</a>&nbsp;&nbsp; <br /><b>Narrator</b>:&nbsp;&nbsp; <a href="http://www.linkedin.com/in/taviagilbert%20">Tavia Gilbert</a> - <b style="color: #660000;">4 out of 5</b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><object class="BLOGGER-youtube-video" classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0" data-thumbnail-src="http://2.gvt0.com/vi/oL-7M_s3Hfo/0.jpg" height="266" width="320"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/oL-7M_s3Hfo&fs=1&source=uds" /><param name="bgcolor" value="#FFFFFF" /><embed width="320" height="266" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/oL-7M_s3Hfo&fs=1&source=uds" type="application/x-shockwave-flash"></embed></object></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Summary</b>:&nbsp; </div><div class="MsoNormal">Cat “Red Reaper” Crawfield was always special and she always hated it.&nbsp; In <i>Halfway to the Grave</i>, we first meet Cat, a half-vampire (an offspring of a human woman and a vampire so recently turned his sperm still swims) who spent her college nights killing vampires for fun.&nbsp; In <i>One Foot in the Grave</i>, Cat traded in her amateur status for a professional one, becoming a special agent secretly killing rogue vampires for the government. &nbsp;At the end of <i>Destined for an Early Grave</i>,<i> </i>Cat hoped allowing her husband, master vampire Bones, to turn her into a full vampire would bring her into the fold, make peace, ease tensions.&nbsp; How wrong she was.&nbsp; Now, officially turned, Cat must hide an even bigger secret from the preternatural community.&nbsp; The Red Reaper drinks blood.&nbsp; Vampire blood.&nbsp; And with that blood, she shares the powers of the most powerful among them.&nbsp; In <i>This Side of the Grave</i>,<i> </i>Cat’s very existence tips the delicate balance of power between the vampires and ghouls.&nbsp; Cat and Bones fight to take down a dangerous zealot before he incites a preternatural war. &nbsp;</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-abZK6BSAcYY/TWXMlzz60aI/AAAAAAAAABo/m6xnHOG4Rv8/s1600/This+side+of+the+Grave.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-abZK6BSAcYY/TWXMlzz60aI/AAAAAAAAABo/m6xnHOG4Rv8/s320/This+side+of+the+Grave.jpg" width="197" /></a></div>&nbsp; <br /><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Forever and Always:</b></div><div class="MsoNormal">I can sum up the entire Night Huntress in this sentence: This is a love story. If you’re new to the series, go right for the first audiobook, <i>Halfway to the Grave</i>.&nbsp; There Bones, the guy, clubs Cat, the girl, over the head and drags her to his cave where he chains her up, beats her up, and keeps her there until she learns to like him.&nbsp; I’m not kidding. That’s a summary of the first few chapters and, my feminist sensibilities aside, it’s down-right romantic. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">Enduring romance is something Jeaniene Frost does better than almost any author I can think of.&nbsp; Most urban fantasy novels – heck, most any romance novels – center on the chase, the tension, the possibility, between the protagonist and the love interest actually coming together.&nbsp; Rightfully so.&nbsp; Think of <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0106080/%20"><u>The </u>Nanny</a>.&nbsp; As long as there was the chase, there was a show.&nbsp; Once the nanny became the wife, the show got canceled. In this series, marriage - however fanged - is the story.&nbsp; Here, Cat and Bones hook up early and stay together.&nbsp; See <i>supra </i>my caveman summary of the first book. It’s compelling, it’s possessive, and it’s immortal.&nbsp; Oh, and it’s also pretty hot.&nbsp; Jeaniene Frost knows how to write a sex scene, and Tavia Gilbert knows how to read one.&nbsp; If you’re looking for a typical vampire love novel <i>This Side of the Grave</i> will not disappoint. &nbsp;If you like your sex scenes with some fangs and a little blood, check out this audiobook after you’re done watching <a href="http://www.hbo.com/true-blood/index.html">True Blood</a>.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-W-Bo8pNfvbg/TWXNczdcB-I/AAAAAAAAABs/FGGyLqhXPtM/s1600/ThisSideof-Sbrevised2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="296" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-W-Bo8pNfvbg/TWXNczdcB-I/AAAAAAAAABs/FGGyLqhXPtM/s320/ThisSideof-Sbrevised2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Other Comments:</b></div><div class="MsoNormal">I hate to say it, but there was something missing.&nbsp; This Night Huntress book read more like one of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeaniene_Frost#The_Night_Huntress_World_Series">Night Huntress World books</a>, the two spin-offs.&nbsp; As I mention above, the love is there – it’s always there. &nbsp;If that’s what you’re looking for, look no further.&nbsp; But that’s not quite what I’m looking for.&nbsp; I love this series for its suspense and action as well as for the romance.&nbsp; In this book, there was a lack of real danger to anyone the listener cares about.&nbsp; Cat &amp; Bones must stop a war from happening, but no one the listener cares about is in danger of imminent death if they fail.&nbsp; I know that a lot of vampires will die, and a lot of ghouls are getting hurt, but I don’t know these vampires, I don’t know these ghouls.&nbsp; Overall, I enjoyed the story, but not quite as much as the earlier books in the series.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>On Narration:</b></div><div class="MsoNormal">If you’ve never heard Tavia Gilbert read, you probably aren’t an avid audiobooks listener.&nbsp; She has a young feminine voice that at-home for young adult novels.&nbsp; Although this isn’t a YA novel, Tavia’s voice rings true for Cat.&nbsp; Also, her Cockney accent is spot-on for Bones.&nbsp; I mentioned already that she knows how to read a sex scene, and it bares repeating for an audiobook that is at times as graphic as this one.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></div>http://literaryurbanfantasyreview.blogspot.com/2011/02/this-side-of-grave-night-huntress.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Dharma Kurlind)3